Re: booting problem (udev related?)

[bob@proulx.com (Bob Proulx)]

Miles Bader wrote:
> The problem is that with the new kernel, the system won't boot all the way.
> It fails when it tries to mount the root partition, and dumps me into the
> ramfs emergency shell.  The error message is something generic like "File
> not found" (sorry for the vagueness, those boot messages don't get saved
> anywhere and I didn't write them down).

This sounds to me as if the initrd did not load the device drivers, as
you suggested later in your message.  Look in the /boot/grub/menu.lst
file and verify that the initrd is being loaded.

Check that you have current versions of 'module-init-tools' and
'initramfs-tools' packages.  The 'mkinitramfs' command is what builds
the initrd.img file.

I think the problem is your clue that previously you had compiled into
your kernel your required modules.  This may be making it difficult
for mkinitramfs to determine which modules are required.  If it fails
to detect this it would build an incorrect initrd.img and have similar
results to what you are reporting.  You may need to hint to it a
module to help bootstrap the system along.

> BTW, my system uses a SCSI disk with an old Adaptec SCSI card
>    scsi0 : Adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI HBA DRIVER, Rev 7.0
>            <Adaptec 2940 Ultra SCSI adapter>

That was a great card.  I have one too but it is no longer in use.
I miss SCSI.

Bob