Hello all, Im new here so i hope to get some help as i have searched and searthed for an answer.

Im also kinda new to linux but have faith, Im not dumb

Ok heres the problem,

I have a laptop with XP home and dident want to install slackware on it so i got a portable drive and downloaded the install DVD iso burned it and ran it all went ok, i installed lilo and rebooted and selected linux and after a bit got a kernel panic ??? anyway hope someone can help and tell me if u need anymore info.

Here is the error message:

VFS: Cannot open root device "801" or unknown-block(8,1)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on
unknown-block(8,1)


Thank You,
John

Which kernel are you using ? The default one ? What filesystem did you choose ?

It's basically telling you that it can't mount the root partition, usually this can be caused by one of 2 things:
1) The kernel you are using does not support the filesystem it is trying to mount
2) Lilo has been misconfigured and is not looking in the right place

In your case it may also not be finding the USB HDD.

I have had to put in a boot delay in the boot options, it seems the usb drive doesn't spin up fast enough for the os to find the drive.

don

Yes I am using the default kernel (hugespm.s) guess i really don't know how to change it at this point except for at boot on the install DVD.

And the drive is 10gb I made a 1gb linux swap(sda2) and the rest ext3 primary boot(sda1)with cfdisk.

It must find the drive, the lights flicker and it load up the that point.

But i have a new problem I had to fix my MBR for windows because without
the USB drive plugged in it woulden't boot at all..

Thanx very much for the repays I know theres a way...


John

Gave up on the usb drive, Installed on laptop drive insted.
Now i got some problems lol. I posted out of the install area.

Thanx,

John

1)Insert winXP cd boot with it and enter the command: FIXMBR
2)Format your USB driver make a partition on your default disk(about 10gb), install slackware make 2-3gb swap. Make your user account under linux and mount the USB drive in /home/$USER/

This is just an alternative way to setup linux and get'em work without creating a huge partition for them..

Hope that helps!