Problem patching SuSE 2.4.20 kernel
 

Hello,

I've got a bit of a problem adding a kernel patch to my SuSE 8.2 distro, which uses 2.4.20 kernel.

I need to add the patch to allow support for Via VT8237 South Bridge chipset on my mobo.

In brief, here's what I did -

1. Patched kernel source according to Via's instructions - no problems.
2. Used default configuration, did 'make oldconfig', and checked config file. all seemed ok.
3. Edited Makefile to create a 'test' kernel / modules directory (added -test EXTRAVERSION)
4. Make dep, make bzImage, make modules, make modules_install. All went fine, without hitch and no funny messages..
5. Copied bzImage to /boot, renaming it as vmlinuz-test
6. Edited /boot/grub/menu.lst to include new kernel. I simply copied existing kernel and changed label and kernel image name.
7. Rebooted machine.

All went fine, until the following error appeared -

loading module reiserfs ...
insmod : reiserfs : no module by that name found
..
...
...
kernel panic : VFS : Unable to mount root fs on 03 : 03

Oh dear - I rebooted using vanilla kernel, and check locations of modules - all appeared OK.
So what's happening here? How does a kernel know where to look for modules? I'm a bit
confused. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Your root filesystem is a Reiser filesystem and the module is not include in the inital ram disk. This is a kinda catch 22 the module is stored on the root file system, but the module needs to be loaded in order to read the filesystem.

Try running make install that should copy the kernel to the boot partition, build the initrd, modify grub...

or run
mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.4.20-test.img 2.4.20-test
and add the initrd to your grub config.

hi g-rod,

thanks for your reply - i'm off to try what you suggested now, will let you know of progress
asap..

cheers.

ok, all sorted - thanks g-rod!