Verbaldi,
Please post as much info regarding the following on your laptop (the one that will NOT load the kernel):

1. Make & Model -as detailed a model number as possible.
2. Detailed info on any options installed, including extra memory (brand, size, model #), etc.
3. If your laptop was available in different configs, list exactly which one you have.
4. How you are attempting to load (built in CD, from a HD partition, PCMCIA CD, etc.).
5. Post the last 10 lines from the boot attempt.

Obviously, there is something different with either your specific laptop or with that specific model. BTW, I tried just about every "lowest common denominator" kernel argument at boot; none made any difference, although YMMV. In my case, the best tool for eliminating anything but the CPU and memory subsystems was the Freesco disk, since it eliminates the IDE and SCSI subsystems as a possibility. Only the CPU, memory, timing, (text) video and PCI/ISA/Propriatary bus subsystems are utilized. Try it with all caches turned off and see if it fails in the same spot. I am curious if there is an odd CPU incompatibily, not necessarily a failed CPU in a lot of these cases...

Unbranded generic (perhaps SiS630) Taiwanese-made notebook (though its called Compu ME, a local company in Dubai).

Model: 2200C (SiS 630S)
Serial #: NC22C01C11974
BIOS: SystemSoft MobilePRO BIOS 1.01 (2482-00)-(R1.02)
Processor: x86 family 6 model 8 Stepping 6 GenuineIntel ~1000Mhz, with 256 MB RAM

DVD-ROM: Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-C2502, built-in drive on right side, this is the drive I'm using to bootup with rh 7.2
NIC: SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Hard Disk: 20 GB, Toshiba MK2016GAP
Pri IDE Channel: IDE ATA/ATAPI controller
Sec IDE Channel: IDE ATA/ATAPI controller
SiS PCI IDE Controller: IDE ATA/ATAPI controller, manufacturer: Silicon Integerated Systems
Batteries
Microsoft AC Adapter, Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers: Texas Instrument OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host
Ir device: built-in infrared device
PCMCIA Adapter: Texas Instruments PCI-4410 CardBus Controller

The last few lines from the boot attempt:
hdc: TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-C2502, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: 39070080 sectors (20004 MB), CHS=2432/255/63, UDMA(66)
hdc: ATAPI 24x DVD-ROM drive, 128kb Cache
Uniform CR-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
ide-floppy driver 0.97
Partition check:
hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 >
Floppy drives(s): fd0 is 1.44
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
loop: loaded (max 8 devices)
ide-floppy driver is 0.97
md: md dirver 0.90.0 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
md: autorun ...
md: ... autorun DONE.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
IP: routing cache hash tables of 2048 buckets, 16Kbytes
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 16384 bind 16384)
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux Net4.0.
EXT-fs: unable to read superblock
cramfs: wrong magic
isofs_read_super: bread failed, dev=09:02, iso_blknum=16, block=32
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 09:02

...what's this dev=09:02 referring to?

Apart from trying tomsrtbt (ver. 2.0.103) -which said 'Loading bz2bzImage' then returned 'Error 0x10'- since I needed the Notebook up quickly, I tried booting up using bootnet.img (& drvnet.img) so that I could upgrade over the net to 7.2... But even that attempt failed.

Gave the same Kernel panic, (few lines below):
...
EXT-fs: unable to read superblock
cramfs: wrong magic
isofs_read_super: bread failed, dev=09:02, iso_blknum=16, block=32
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 09:02

Booting from a boot disk created from a previous install gave a reference to dev=03:07, but booting with bootnet.img gives dev=09:02. Any clues...?

Just to chime in for a sec, whenever I compile a kernel, under General Setup when selecting processor type and features, there is always a selection point for Toshiba laptop support and Dell 8k series support. This seems rather specific to put right there at the TOP of the config, so it might be the source of your problem. You may want to create a custom bootdisk with 2.4.18 and that option selected.

Luck,

Finegan

Right, it is rather specific like you say, and is likely the source of the trouble. So what are the steps to creating a custom booktdisk with 2.4.18 with the required options. Compiling a custom kernel is still a daunting task for me - I'm still a newbie, remember...

I've only done this once, and I used the how-to over at linux-doc, and it was so I could have my own stripped down sort of Tom's with a newer kernel so I could help save a UFS partition. How to build one to suit an installation is kinda interesting. Two ideas to try first:

Reading back I noticed this... this is actually after kernel load and part of init. I think the RH install uses the CDRom as part of the root filesystem and the other part on ramdisk (probably /proc for one, maybe another piece). If this is init failing to mount the cdrom, borrow another one and try it first. Even if this isn't a burned ISO and is an actual bought copy, I've heard of people just getting bad CDs with 7.2. If that message refers to init being unable to cut a virtual filesystem onto the ramdisk, then yeah, its probably a kernel issue.

Second, if my offhand guess at the shiba laptop support was right (which I'm beginning to doubt as the RH default kernel is 2.4.7 and there were toshiba workarounds that far back too, and RH tends to compile in EVERYTHING you might ever need [aside from ntfs support]), then you might try d/l a RH 7.3 bootdisk and just use that with your 7.2 CD.

Third, hit linux-doc and read up on custom boot disks,
here.

Either way,

Luck,

Finegan

As to the first idea of the CDs being bad: well, they are okay, I have installed on a number of machines before and after this trouble with the notebook (all of them desktops, though). They are ISO images burned to CDs by me, and they seem to work fine even now, been about two months since I made 'em...

As to the second idea relating to the issue being one of Toshiba/kernel, this is all I can say: I tried installing rh 7.1 on it and it works fine, and that version (7.1[/SIZE) uses kernel 2.4.2-2, so there seems to be support for it as far back as that.

Can you tell me when/what gives the EXT-fs error:
EXT-fs: unable to read superblock
cramfs: wrong magic ([SIZE]does cramfs refer to compressed ram fs?)

Any clues as to what the Error 0x10 returned by tomsrtbt (ver. 2.0.103) refers to?

I'm off to linux-docs and that link for readin' up on that boot disk thinggy. Thanks a ton for your tips... be back soon.

-Verb-

I got the notebook up and running with Redhat GNU/Linux 7.3

Made a FAT32 partition, copied the ISOs (3), pointed there by root=/dev/hda3 at boot prompt and got on with installing from there...

I haven't been able to trace the reason for the panic, though! As it was so badly needed to get this notebook up 'n running...

Thanks everyone, for the time and help extended, I really appreciate it. Thank you.

HI,

impossible to install a Rehat 7.3 with this error message just after the
boot installation from a CDROM :
-------
EXT2-fs = unable to read SuperBlock
cramfs : wrong magic
FAT : unable to read boot sector
Kernel panic VFS :
unable to mount root
fs on 09:00
-------
What happens ?
Is it a CDROM failure ?
CD seems working well)
Many thanks

Antoine Waché

This seems to be happening a lot... and now with 7.3. Weird. Its the kernel unable to mount the cd itself as part of the root filesystem for installation purposes. The DOS copy trick that the previous guy mentioned will work, but I'm pretty sure that making a boot floppy should work as well. There is a top level folder on the RH CD that has instructions and the images to make 'em.

Luck,

Finegan

Maybe this would help:

I had a similar problem because I had a bottleneck at the harddisk (slow disk controller didn't allow install of 2.4 kernel). 2.4x version of the kernel installs with heavy disk activity, so I changed over to a faster drive and interface. That seemed to cure that problem.

A freak thing, but it may help.

Finegan,
im havin the same problem here...what do you recomend?

I had the same problem with rh 7.3 the other day while fighting with my athy system. I didn't have to, but on the top level of the CD is a folder for creating 3.5 bootdisks and being able to do it from either dos or linux. If you can't read the drives contents from either, its a bum cd, no doubt, ISO9660 is a standard, anything should be able to read it.

Post back if the boot disk solution doesn't work out.

Luck,

Finegan

well shazam! when i try to use my boot disk it says crc error! and quits! ive tried 2 diskets...what is going on here fellas!?

They didn't copy right, what did you use to compy the images? dd or rawrite?

Cheers,

Finegan