I will try to help you, but I have never done this before.
look here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...D_using_dmraid
if you look at his comments, and not so much the lines of code, you will see that you have to make some changes to the kernel parameters in the initrd file to tell it to use /dev/ram0 and to be able to execute the file. Also give an optional parameter to the mkinitrd command. He is using slackware, but maybe you can understand what you have to do for your distribution.
I do not know if it will help, but perhaps you could create another partition for loading the new linux distribution, and then change the bootloader configuration file (grub or lilo) to boot from the linux image stored in this new partition.
This link explains how to boot from the hard drive or USB if there is a /dev/ram0 problem:
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/linde...ootFromUsb.pdf
Here is one more link that might help:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t...highpoint.html
It says:
"oh that reminds me in the grub.conf you will need root=/dev/ram0 that is your initial ram disk starting point not the harddisk your harddisk partition would be"
maybe if you don't have root set to /dev/ram0, you will not have permission to mount it and access it. Maybe this is causing the problem.
Also, you may have to change grub or lilo to:
kernel /bzImage ro root=/dev/ram0 noapic init=linuxrc
so it does not look to the hard drive, but instead to ram
Here is alot of information about initrd:
http://linuxreviews.org/man/initrd/
Look at this link under "make the boot image"
http://azbikelaw.org/computer/linux.html
On this page:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=805230
Make sure to include root=/dev/ram0 and init=/linuxrc on the kernel line ... as well real_root=/dev/hdxx where xx is your ROOT partition (a1, a2, b1, etc.)
I have also seen it recommended that you make a link between /dev/ram0 and /dev/ramdisk
older kernels use /dev/ramdisk, newer ones use /dev/ram0
I have also read that telling the kernel that root=/dev/ram0 prevents it from being remounted after initrd
If you still cannot figure it out, you can post to
http://www.justlinux.com
They are very helpful, but you must provide a description of the problem in the subject header.
Another idea is to send a message to the people who support whatever distribution you have decided to use, or forums related to that distribution.
