Re: custom kernel 2.4.22 problems

[Rick Stevens <rstevens vitalstream com>]

Timothy Wells wrote:
> I have just built a custom kernel (2.4.22) except on boot I get the 
> following error
>
> VFS: Cannot open root device "LABEL=/" or 00:00
> Please append a correct "root=" boot option
> Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 00:00
>
> The bootloader is grub and the config is as follows
>
> > default=0
> > timeout=10
> > splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
> > title Red Hat Linux (2.4.22)
> >     root (hd0,0)
> >     kernel /bzImage ro root=LABEL=/
> >     initrd /bzImage-2.4.22.img
>
>
> The system is an AMDXP 2.5, running Redhat 9, and was working perfectly 
> on the previous kernel (2.4.20-8)
>
> I took this message to mean that ext3-fs support was not compiled, or 
> the support for the filesystem was not compiled, but i went through and 
> included it and other possibles in the kernel.
>
> Any idea why this is happening, and how to fix it?

The odds are that you don't have ext3 as you thought you did.  ext3 can
be either compiled into the kernel or (by default) as a module.  My
guess is that it's a module and you didn't build an initrd image.

To fix this, boot under the original kernel, then:

	cd /boot
	mkinitrd -f -v initrd-2.4.22.img 2.4.22

When that happens, verify that the "ext3" module actually gets loaded
into the image.  If it doesn't, the following form of the above command
will force it to be included:

	mkinitrd -f -v --with=ext3 initrd-2.4.22.img 2.4.22

Once that's done, try to boot with the new kernel again.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens vitalstream com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-         "If you can't fix it...duct tape it!"  - Tim Allen         -
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