kernel panic

[sda <dallan@rogers.com>]

Hello Folks:

I'm desperate -- Previous to this morning I had the install bf24 kernel 
installed. I read on another list that basically it's intended for the install 
process only and should be replaced for adequate performance.

So, I took the plunge and installed '2.4.18.img' and ran lilo afterwards. Lilo 
gave an error on the stanza I added to lilo as per the debian installer 
instructions: I think it was the 'initrd=/initrd.img' line. I obviously added it 
to the wrong place.

Anyways, "Murphy's law' conveniently came to be, while I was doing this, I let 
the sink overflow in the kitchen, and the water was threating to splash over the 
electric equipment (power bars etc) that runs my 4 workstations. So, because we 
were tramping through water (electrocution possibility to) I had to throw the 
circuit breaker that was responsible for these components.

So, to make a long story short, I'm unable to boot into my Woody server, with 
the newly installed kernel. I tried the rescue disk, but it gives me a kernel 
panic. I tried the 'shift-tab' sequence at the lilo prompt, and it only gives me 
one kernel choice -- I can't see the old one.

The messages I'm getting at the kernel are thus;

	-root filesytem not mounted
	-VFS cannot open root device
	-please append a correct root=boot option
	-kernel panic

This is way over my head. Is there anything I can do, to mount this box?

I'd rather try to recover it if possible, as I'm not backed up... (I know, I know).

Thanks.
--
Stephen