kernel 2.6.12 VFS: Unable to mount root fs

nova-ex · 11-05-2005, 11:18 PM

Hi,

i recently upgraded to mandriva linux 2006 and with it i upgraded the kernel too. The kernel version is now 2.6.12.12 and it was previously 2.6.11.6. After the upgrade i was unable to start my system and here is what i see during boot.

Code:

devfs_mk_dev: could not append to parent for md/0
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
md: autorun ...
md: ... autorun DONE.
RAMDISK: cramfs filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 176KiB [1 disk[ into ram disk... done.
VFS: Mounted root (cramfs filesystem) readonly.
Error -5 while decompressing!
c0482884(1943)->efd51000(4096)
input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard on isa0060/serio0
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(3,3)

my specs can be fount at h ttp://nova-ex.net/sysinfo.

Any idea whats wrong? My old kerenel worked well. and im still using it to post this.

nova-ex · 11-05-2005, 11:24 PM

btw here is what i ahve mounted.

Code:

/dev/hda3 on / type reiserfs (rw,notail)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw)
/dev/mapper/system-home on /home type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hdb1 on /mnt/backup type ext3 (rw)
none on /mnt/floppy type supermount (rw,sync,dev=/dev/fd0,fs=ext2:vfat,--)
/dev/hda1 on /mnt/win_c type ntfs (ro,umask=0,nls=utf8)
/dev/hda5 on /mnt/win_d type vfat (rw,umask=0,iocharset=utf8)
/dev/mapper/system-var on /var type reiserfs (rw,notail)
none on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,devmode=0664,devgid=43)
nfsd on /proc/fs/nfsd type nfsd (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)

MasterC · 11-06-2005, 07:37 PM

Just a guess, but it looks like an initrd issue. Try re-installing that kernel upgrade and see if that fixes it. Also, check your bootloader config file (I know Mandrake use to use Lilo, but I don't know anymore whether it uses Grub or still Lilo), see that the initrd entry isn't b0rked and that the initrd image actually exists.

It may very well be a filesystem is not supported in the new kernel issue, check the new kernel's config to see that cramfs and reiser are enabled.

Cool

nova-ex · 11-08-2005, 04:29 AM

this kernel was compiled from a srpm and other kernel versions i have tried compiling with srpms have turned out the same error. im using lilo.

Here is my lilo config

Code:

default="linux"
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
keytable=/boot/us-latin1.klt
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
prompt
nowarn
timeout=100
message=/boot/message
image=/boot/vmlinuz
        label="linux"
        root=/dev/hda3
        initrd=/boot/initrd.img
        append="acpi=ht resume=/dev/system/swap splash=silent"
        vga=788

i dont think there is anything wrong with it. The same config goes for my 2.6.11 -6 which works perfectly.

i know that you check which modules are loaded yuo use modprobe right. But how do you check what is compiled into the kernel? especially one that is not being used now? its make menuconfig is it? but where do i run this command? i believe i need an argument for this command that is the config file of the new kernel. where do you find that?

MasterC · 11-08-2005, 09:54 PM

If you saved the config or the kernel source from the *old* kernel you can cat or less the .config in that directory, which is generally:
less /usr/src/linux-kernel-version/.config

If you prefer the ncurses interface, you can:
cd /usr/src/linux-kernel-version
make menuconfig
And it *should* load the old kernel config.

You can also copy that old kernel config to new kernels:
cp /usr/src/linux-kernel-version/.config /usr/src/linux-new-kernel-version/

You run that command in the kernel source directory.

And that new config file is in the same place as the old one

Cool

nova-ex · 03-14-2006, 11:17 AM

Bah after so many eons and multiple versions of kernels i am still facing this problem. Any help guys?