I had a good working system with RH7.2 so I decided to update it to RH8.0

Install went fine untill reboot time. Got the following message:

mount: error 6 mounting ext3
pivotroot: pivot_root (/sysroot, /sysroot/initrd) failed 2
umount /initrd/proc failed 2
freeing unused kernel memory 240k freed
kernal panic: no init found. Try passing init=option to kernal

Boots OK from floppy - though I can't set the time (other things may not work but I haven't found them yet).

Where do I start? I'm new to linux and I've searched the web for help and it
goes straight over my head. Most sites talk like I know what I'm doing or
I'm using RH 6.0 (!).

Can you post the output of :

ls /boot

so we can see what files you can use to boot.

OK, here you go:

[root@zrx root]# ls /boot
boot.0300 module-info-2.4.18-14debug
boot.b module-info-2.4.18-14smp
chain.b module-info-2.4.18-14uml
config-2.4.18-14 os2_d.b
config-2.4.18-14bigmem System.map
config-2.4.18-14BOOT System.map-2.4.18-14
config-2.4.18-14debug System.map-2.4.18-14bigmem
config-2.4.18-14smp System.map-2.4.18-14BOOT
config-2.4.18-14uml System.map-2.4.18-14debug
grub System.map-2.4.18-14smp
initrd-2.4.18-14bigmem.img System.map-2.4.18-14uml
initrd-2.4.18-14BOOT.img vmlinux-2.4.18-14
initrd-2.4.18-14debug.img vmlinux-2.4.18-14bigmem
initrd-2.4.18-14.img vmlinux-2.4.18-14BOOT
initrd-2.4.18-14smp.img vmlinux-2.4.18-14debug
kernel.h vmlinux-2.4.18-14smp
lost+found vmlinuz
map vmlinuz-2.4.18-14
message vmlinuz-2.4.18-14bigmem
message.ja vmlinuz-2.4.18-14BOOT
module-info vmlinuz-2.4.18-14debug
module-info-2.4.18-14 vmlinuz-2.4.18-14smp
module-info-2.4.18-14bigmem vmlinuz-2.4.18-14uml

But I think I solved it anyway (this has been bugging me for two weeks now).

I removed append "root=/LABEL/" (or something like that) from lilo.conf and ran /sbin/lilo
Rebooted fine.
I'm now able to update the kernel.

How do I remove old kernels? Just delete them?

yup, if you want you can look at the thread I made in the General forum titled "Kernel panics". And, you can get rid of the old one without a problem. If they are rpms, use rpm -e, otherwise manually delete them and update lilo.conf

OK, I'm a newbie. I know I boot 2.4.18-14bigmem what do I safely delete? I can't update the kernel because '...kernel update requires 2mb of space...'

This is the file list I have:

file:/boot/grub
file:/boot/lost+found
file:/boot/boot.0300
file:/boot/boot.b
file:/boot/chain.b
file:/boot/config-2.4.18-14
file:/boot/config-2.4.18-14bigmem
file:/boot/config-2.4.18-14BOOT
file:/boot/config-2.4.18-14debug
file:/boot/config-2.4.18-14smp
file:/boot/config-2.4.18-14uml
file:/boot/config-2.4.18-19.8.0
file:/boot/initrd-2.4.18-14bigmem.img
file:/boot/initrd-2.4.18-14BOOT.img
file:/boot/initrd-2.4.18-14debug.img
file:/boot/initrd-2.4.18-14.img
file:/boot/initrd-2.4.18-14smp.img
file:/boot/initrd-2.4.18-19.8.0.img
file:/boot/kernel.h
file:/boot/map
file:/boot/message
file:/boot/message.ja
file:/boot/module-info
file:/boot/module-info-2.4.18-14
file:/boot/module-info-2.4.18-14bigmem
file:/boot/module-info-2.4.18-14debug
file:/boot/module-info-2.4.18-14smp
file:/boot/module-info-2.4.18-14uml
file:/boot/module-info-2.4.18-19.8.0
file:/boot/os2_d.b
file:/boot/System.map
file:/boot/System.map-2.4.18-14
file:/boot/System.map-2.4.18-14bigmem
file:/boot/System.map-2.4.18-14BOOT
file:/boot/System.map-2.4.18-14debug
file:/boot/System.map-2.4.18-14smp
file:/boot/System.map-2.4.18-14uml
file:/boot/System.map-2.4.18-19.8.0
file:/boot/vmlinux-2.4.18-14
file:/boot/vmlinux-2.4.18-14bigmem
file:/boot/vmlinux-2.4.18-14BOOT
file:/boot/vmlinux-2.4.18-14debug
file:/boot/vmlinux-2.4.18-14smp
file:/boot/vmlinux-2.4.18-19.8.0
file:/boot/vmlinuz
file:/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14
file:/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14bigmem
file:/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14BOOT
file:/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14debug
file:/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14smp
file:/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14uml
file:/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-19.8.0