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Old 12-07-2005, 03:50 PM   #1
phatbastard
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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Houston, Texas
Distribution: Kubuntu, zenwalk
Posts: 117

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My kernel is in a panic and needs a valium


I am getting a kernel panic messgae that says "kernel panic - not syncing: VFS : unable to mount root fs on unknown - block (3,3) here is a copy of my lilo.conf:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/hda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 1200
other = /dev/hda1
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda
# Windows bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-2.6.13
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
root = /dev/hda3
label = Linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends


Any ideas?
 
Old 12-08-2005, 03:32 AM   #2
mr_demilord
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Registered: Sep 2005
Posts: 244

Rep: Reputation: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by phatbastard
I am getting a kernel panic messgae that says "kernel panic - not syncing: VFS : unable to mount root fs on unknown - block (3,3) here is a copy of my lilo.conf:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/hda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 1200
other = /dev/hda1
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda
# Windows bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-2.6.13
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
root = /dev/hda3
label = Linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends


Any ideas?
Compile the filesystems straight in the kernel instead as module.
Also the chipset and IDE drivers should be build in the kernel and not as modules
 
Old 12-08-2005, 04:32 AM   #3
Haiyadragon
Member
 
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Gorredijk, Netherlands
Distribution: Arch Linux
Posts: 400

Rep: Reputation: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by phatbastard
I am getting a kernel panic messgae that says "kernel panic - not syncing: VFS : unable to mount root fs on unknown - block (3,3) here is a copy of my lilo.conf:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/hda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 1200
other = /dev/hda1
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda
# Windows bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-2.6.13
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
root = /dev/hda3
label = Linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends


Any ideas?
Did you make an initrd with the root partition's filesystem? Slack kernels from testing need that if you have a non ext2 root partition. There's a text file in /boot with info on that, something like README.initrd.
 
Old 12-08-2005, 11:17 AM   #4
sundialsvcs
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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: SE Tennessee, USA
Distribution: Gentoo, LFS
Posts: 10,610
Blog Entries: 4

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A "kernel panic" occurs when the system encounters a situation where it cannot continue. It halts and starts blinking the keyboard lights in (believe it or not...) morse code.

The phrase "not syncing" actually means that, when going into the panic, the kernel was able to write all unsaved information to disk before actually halting. The comma between "kernel panic" and "not syncing" does not mean "because..."

At this point in the process, the kernel is looking for a mountable filesystem on partition #3. This must be the root partition, not the boot partition! It must have a valid filesystem and the kernel must have a usable driver for it .. either because it was compiled-in or because the 'initrd' process found and loaded one.

Probably the best thing to look for at this point is .. a simple typographic error of some sort. Boot up a LiveCD and have a look around: what type of filesystem is it, where is it actually located, and so on. Carefully check the contents of the boot loader config-file, and don't forget to re-run lilo.
 
  


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