Re: kernel panich VFS unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(3,1)

[Craig Russell <craig@airdigitalnetwork.com>]

Roberto C. Sanchez wrote:

On Thu, Jun 09, 2005 at 05:54:21PM -0400, Craig Russell wrote:
  

Trying to compile the 2.6.8 kernel from the debian source package
(patched) and I keep on running into this problem after reboot.  I
have gone back and checked to make sure that the ide drivers have been
compiled in but after 5 or 6 attempts I am still getting this error.
The kernel appears to compile fine.  I am using Lilo to as my boot
manager and I created an initrd.img with mkinitrd -o
/boot/initrd.img.2.6.8 2.6.8.  I created the kernel package via
fakeroot make-kpkg --revision=custom.1.0 kernel_image  and this
installs fine (or so it appears).  

I've been searching the web and tried many of the suggestions but I'm
still getting the same error.

The end result of this operation is to run free/swan with the native
ipsec support in the 2.6 kernel.


Thanks for any help you can offer.

    

OK.  Two things:

1. Use GRUB.  It is better.  It is easier to configure.  It doesn't
require a reinstall for every new kernel.
2. Don't make an initrd unless you have a really good reason (e.g., you
want / on LVM or LVM+RAID, or you also need the kernel to fit on a
floppy and you can't get the core small enough).

Now, on to sloving the problem.  What filesystem is your / partition?
What filesystems are you buidling with the kernel?  If they are modules,
are you sure that they are in the initrd?  What are the contents of your
initrd and what is your kernel config?

-Roberto

  

ok-
taking these suggestions (and I concur, grub is a lot easier) I still have the same problem with the kernel panic.  / is on /dev/hda1 swap on /dev/hda2; grub recognizes the new kernel and it is an option on the menu.  I went back and re-verifed that ext2 and ext3 filesystems are configured into the kernel and *NOT* as modules.  I did a make clean and a make-dpkg clean and recompiled and re-installed the new kernel.  No compilation errors, no installation errors, but still the same can't mount root fs error. 

One thing I'm confused on is the ide drivers in the 2.6 kernel.  While reading the help under ATA, etc. it states that I should be using the scsi driver for ide drives unless I have legacy equipment (which I don't, Vision computers x86 based, new in the last 2 weeks), but under the scsi drivers section it asks for a specific driver and does not list anything remotely close to what i've got.

So, I'm at a logjam.


Thanks for the help


Craig Russell
Airdigitalnetwork.com