LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] Boot problem after installing Ubuntu 11.04 - "Kernel panic

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Boot problem after installing Ubuntu 11.04 - "Kernel panic - not syncing VFS"...

So I upgraded to Ubuntu Desktop v12.04. After doing so, I'm unable to boot the machine.

The complete error message is:

Code:

"Kernel panic - not syncing VFS; Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)"

followed by some address and register data, I assume...

Somehow, I think GRUB isn't getting found/loaded.

I'm able to load the install CD and run a terminal as root. All of my files are in /home and it looks like the root partition is ok.

The fstab file looks like:

Code:

proc                /proc                proc                defaults                0                0

# /dev/sda1

UUID…           /                   ext3    realtime,errors=remount-ro     0        1

# /dev/sda5

UUID…         none                swap                sw                        0                0

/dev/scd0        /media/cdrom0…

/dev/fd0                /media/floppy0…

If I run> parted -l:
Model: ATA HTS…(scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 40.0GG
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition table: msdos

Code:

Number        Start        End                Size                Type                File System                Flags

1                32.5kB        38.5GB        38.5GB        primary        ext3                                boot

2                38.5GB        40.0GB        1546GB        extended

5                38.5GB        40.0GB        1546GB        logical        linux-swap(v1)



Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0 has been opened read-only. Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!

If I run> parted check 2
or
> parted rm 2

Code:

Error: could not stat device check - No such file or directory

It seems that somehow the partitions 2 & 5 are beyond the size of the hard drive (40.0GB), but I don't know how to fix that.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

That error means it found the kernel but not the root filesystem.

Looking at fstab, this is wrong
# /dev/sda1
UUID… / ext3 realtime,errors=remount-ro 0 1

You need the UUID, or, simpler, put in sda1 for that one instead of UUID...

You can find UUIDs in /dev/disk/by-uuid or suchlike place. Do similarly fo0r swap.

business_kid - thanks for the reply. Actually, I intentionally shortened the UUID for the post. In reality the fstab file contains the full UUIDs in each case.

OK - uuid is not the problem.

Here's my line from /boot/grub/menu.lst

Quote:

title Slackware-13.1-2.6.38.4-xxx Kernel
root (hd0,4)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.38.4-xxx root=/dev/sda8 ro resume=/dev/sda9 pcie_aspm=force

This is a poor example, because the partition numbers are all over the shop. But that highlighted option tells the kernel where to look for the root filesystem, and it needs to find / there. Your setting there must be wrong. So the kernel looks in the wrong place and says "Hey, that's not a root filesystem", and spouts the error you saw.

business_kid - thanks so much for your help! That did it! For some reason my menu.lst file had the root parameter set to root=UUID=7395...

After setting root=/dev/sda1 everything boots swimmingly.

Much appreciated!