kernel panic

[Les Mikesell]

Karl Larsen wrote:
>    I found this on Google but it doesn't help me much:
> 
> echo "Loading scsi_mod module"
> insmod /lib/scsi_mod.o echo "Loading sd_mod module"
> insmod /lib/sd_mod.o echo "Loading cpqarray module"
> insmod /lib/cpqarray.o echo "Loading jbd module"
> insmod /lib/jbd.o echo "Loading ext3 module"
> insmod /lib/ext3.o mount -t proc /proc /proc
> echo Mounting /proc filesystem
> echo Creating root device
> mkrootdev /dev/root
> 
> This seems to be where /dev/root comes from. And my kernel can't find it 
> for some reason.
> 
> 
> 
> echo 0x0100 > /proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev
> umount /proc
> echo Mounting root filesystem
> mount --ro -t ext3 /dev/root /sysroot
> pivot_root /sysroot /sysroot/initrd

There is a point in the boot sequence where the bios-loaded kernel 
trades the initrd RAM disk image (also bios loaded) for the real root 
partion mount point.  Several things can go wrong here. Grub may have 
told the kernel to look in the wrong place for the root file system, the 
file system might be unreadable, or you may have moved the system onto a 
machine with a different type of disk controller that needs a different 
driver module included on the initrd.  The main reason you need the 
initrd is to load drivers for the root filesystem if they aren't 
compiled into the kernel but it will only include ones for the the 
machine where the system was originally installed. If you can access the 
disk, somewhere in the boot messages you should see it detecting the 
device and partitions.  If you don't see that, the kernel can't see the 
disk and you'll have to rebuild the initrd with the right module.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com