Problem booting 2.6.8 kernel

["Robert D. Hilliard" <bob@bobhilliard.net>]

     I have built a 2.6.8 kernel, but booting it fails with the
following message:

VFS: Cannot open root device "hda3" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

The grub stanza used is:
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 ro

     I have verified that ide support and both the ext2 and ext3 file
systems are compiled into the kernel, not as modules.

     Where should I look for the problem?

Regards,

Bob
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