LinuxQuestions.org - Vfs: Kernel panic boot error

Hello, i appologize for posting another one of these, however, none seem to have a variation of the case that i do.

specs:
ibm compuer, onboard ide interface pentium 3
ide western digital harddrive 120 gigs DDO overlay hda
partitions: fat32 hda1
swap hda2
/ hda3 reiserfs

ide deskstar harddrive 130 gigs DDO overlay hdb
/home hda1 reiserfs

generic cdrom drive hdc
sony cd-rw hdd

slackware 10.2 distro
current version: linux 2.4.31 kernel
upgrading to: 2.6.15

problem:
i downloaded and installed slack 10.2 from the torrent version.
it came with the 2.4 version kernel which was nice, but i like to be on the bleading edge
well actaully ive got a wireless card that i cant support without the 2.6 version. No card, no internet :) . The 2.6 kernel has a few other benifits i would like too.

anways, i have compiled the 2.6 kernel with reisefs support compiled directly into the kernel. I tweaked it to my liking and then compiled the modules, installed them, and then compile the bzImage
(note: I did not remove anything, and i have compile cleanly option checked)

i then configured lilo to see this kernel at
/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage
labled it linux-2.6.15, ran the lilo update program /sbin/lilo -v and then rebooted

when i rebooted i got the

Code:

vfs error: unable to recognize filesystem at unknown-(3,3)

please append correct root= command at boot

kernel panic: unable to sync disks

i then recompiled with more ide and ata support.
to no avail.

then i decided i would try the initrd method.
I deleated the modules and then used

Code:

make mrproper

to clear any previous kernel files
(i had backed up my config file)

i then changed the config file to support reiserfs as a module,
saved recompiled reinstalled the modules and created the initrd image

Code:

mkinitrd -k 2.6.15 -m reiserfs -o initrd.img-2.6.15

(while focused on /boot)

i rewrote the lilo file to incorperate the mkinitrd
(added initrd = /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15) under my linux-2.6.15 entery
my lilo now looks like this: (important section)

Code:

image = /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage

initrd = /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15

root = /dev/hda3

label = linux-2.6.15

read-only

for kicks, here is the entery for my backup kernel (2.4.31)

Code:

image = /home/knelson/boot/vmlinuz

root = /dev/hda3

label = backup

read-only

i rebooted, saw the intird load properly
saw it load the module reiserfs.ok
(i think, i cant quite remember the extention, but i think it was .ok
my linux pc isnt on to check right now)

then i got the usual vfs error, the one mentioned above

questions and usefull tidbits about my system:

both of my harddrives have a Kroll Data Disk Overlay (DDO). This is the only way that i can use the full potential of my harddrives with the limited bios that i have (award) does not like linux... i had one heck of a time configuring it and getting it to work.
of course, i was a linux newbie, that may have had something to do with it.

anyways, the DDO works just fine with 2.4 version, but i dont know if it screws up the 2.6 version. does anyone know? i assume not because 1.) without the ddo, the disk works properly, it just cant see beyond 33.8 gigabytes (cfdisk returns a bad partiton error) but that is the only downfall in 2.4. still, this may have something to do with my problem. I dont know

also, vfs claims to try to be booting from (3,3) i recognize this as harddisk-partiton number, and i relate this to grub. I have never used grub. so i dont know if (3,3) points to hda3?
if not, i do not know how to change it. I see no settings in make menuconfig to change the superblock. I always assumed it was determined by the lilo bootloader.

i thought this might be an ide board conflict, as all the software needed to run my harddrive (reiserfs.ok) was loaded in the inintrd
so i added as much support for ide and ata chipsets as i could
this did nothing.

also, i attemped trying to compile the kernel in places other than /usr/src. i read something about it haveing incomplete kernel headers that i shouldnt mess with, but as i had already guessed, this did nothing. (i untar ' ed it again in a completly seperate location /home/knelson/src) so no messed up kernel headers in that one. Did nothing.

to sum this whole article up, right now my internet connection is toast, and the 2.6 version kernel is the toaster which some malicious fool who turned the knob to as dark as it can go.

continueing this metaphor, my computer would be the butter,
and i would most definitly be
sweet strawberry jelly

i apologize for the tasteless analagy (pun intended) however, it is late, and my brain is very annoyed with this kernel.

if anyone has any help, please share with me, i have no more ideas to change.