No such file or directory.
What I have done:
- installed source packet for kernel-2.6.8.
- edited (make xconfig) config-2.6.8-2-k7 that is the kernel version I use
- followed literally instructions in Creating custom kernels wit Debian's kernel-package system

I am using grup boot loader.

The above mentioned guide does not mentioned initrd.img. Ok withour initrd.img
I got error "cannot open root device hda1. Please append a correct root= boot option.

So I figured that I need initrd.img which I made using mkinitrd -o initrd.img-custom.version
and edited grubs accordingly.

No I'll get error
modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.8.custem/modules.deb, no such
file or directory.
Kernel PANIC....

Well, modules dep definetely exist in that directory.

I can boot to 2.6.8-2-k7 with no problem, which I have installed from binary package.
I must not be the first person to encounter this problem (am I stupid or what) but
I was able to find only one portugease page where this problem was addressed
and I didn't understand a bit of it :-(

I have spent evenings now and tried nearly everything except the right way
and I'm becoming a little bit desperate. Custom kernel making cannot be
this difficult. I must have missed something trivial but I cannot figure out what.
Any ideas what I am missing????

modprobe should not trying to load modules.dep, it's dependency information not a module.

Default Debian kernels make everything a module, if you didn't create an initrd you'll need to go through and make sure your storage controller's driver is compiled statically into your kernel.

I have the same problem,
I have installed 2.6.12 kernel and made initrd file and it all worked, but after I reinstalled linux and tried to build the same kernel source with the same .config file it gave me an error when I tried to execute initrd -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-2-386 2.6.12.2 command. After that error when I try to boot my new kernel it starts booting and gives me an error "modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.8.custem/modules.deb, no such
file or directory. " for about a 30 sec and than booting goes ahead and in the end system became totally operatable

I had the same error message, so I suppose, it's the same problem.

I solved it by using initramfs instead of initrd.

I read the previous error messages, befor "modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules". I saw, that this error might have occured because the file system couldn't be mounted.

On http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initramfs (this is a german article, in the English wikipedia, this article is missing) I found, that initrd only works, if the drivers for the file system are fix compiled into the kernel. Initrd will not work, if the needed drivers are compiled as modules - and compiling as modules is the standard in most kernels, I learnt.

Initramfs is the successor of initrd. It works independently from this question. So I installed the debian-package "inintramfs-tools".
Within the folder, where my kernel-sources are (don't know, if this is nessecary), I did
-c says: create (a inintramfs)
-k XYZ says, for whitch Kernel the initramfs should be created.
(Note: There is an other tool named "mkinintramfs". I didn't use it, because it's recommended only for advanced users. "update-inintramfs" is recommended for people like I am.)

Then, I found a new file named "initrd.img-2.6.20" in /boot/.
I inserted
into my file /boot/grub/menu.1st

- and it worked.

thank you very much.
your message was the first hit on google for lib/kernel/XXX/modules.dep not found.
and it was certainly correct in my case as well.
another satisfied customer....

rmwilliamsjr
in Tucson in the sonoran desert, SouthWest US.
march the 10th and it is supposed to be 95F today.
you just gotta love these winters and spring.!!

Yaird works like this:

apt-get install yaird

yaird --output=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.xy.z<space>2.6.xy.z

Yaird uses the /lib/modules directory specified after <space> to build the image.

thank you
but i must use "t" option, like this:
update-inintramfs2. -c -k 6.28.7 -t
(i compile 2.6.28.7 and use debian squeeze testing)

Thank you very much I solved 3 nigthed problem

Hello!

I had the same problem on Debian 5.04 i386, compiling a new vanilla kernel 2.6.33.5. I compiled the filesystem ext3 support as built-in, but nothing has changed. The modules.dep file cannot be read even if it is right there! How can this problem be solved?

I think you have a typo on the following code:

I think you mean: