rescue

[Tom Allison <tallison1@twmi.rr.com>]

I have a kernel panic:
VFS: Cannot open root device "hda6" or 03:06
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:06.

Now I've tried different root options to cover all of them including what was 
once /.

Nothing works.

I was building a custom kernel and ran dpkg -i ../kernel-image... just like I 
have so many times before.  But something didn't go very well.

For now, what exactly do I do to recover from this and have a working kernel 
on my hard drive?
I have a debian 2.2.r3 and 2.2.r2 CD-ROMS and another computer (obviously) to 
work from.  But no 'rescue' disks for the defunct PC (different CPU than the 
rest).

I was running 2.4.9.