so I have installed XP and Debian Sarge on my laptop using Grub as the bootloader. Sarge booted fine with 2.4. something or the other kernel, but I decided to be adventurous and try updating to a new kernel.
Long story short, new kernel won't load. Here's some specifics that I get upon boot:

hda: bad access: block=blah, count=8
end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector blah blah
ReiserFS: hda2 warning sh-2006: read_super_block: bread failed (dev hda2, block 2, size 4096)
hda: bad access: block=blah, count =8
end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector blah blah
ReiserFS: hda2 warning sh-2006: read_super_block: bread failed (dev hda2, block 2, size 4096)
hda: bad access: block=blah, count =2
end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector blah blah
EXT3-fs: unable to read superblock
hda: bad access: block=blah, count =2
end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector blah blah
EXT2-fs: unable to read superblock
hda: bad access: block=blah, count =1
end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector blah blah
FAT: unable to read boot sector
VFS: Cannot open root device "hda2" or unknown-block(3,2)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(3,2)

Here's the grub edit details:

root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9 root=/dev/hda2 ro
savedefault
boot


This is essentially the same as my 2.4.7 details except that my 2.4.7 has an initrd line.

Do I need to do initrd stuff for my 2.6.9 as well? If so, how do I do that?

Edit... There are actually numbers where the blah blah's are, i'm just to lazy to type them.

cd /usr/src/linux-2.*.*
make xconfig
select support for the filesystem type of the '/' partition and all other partitions.
i.e. if your '/' partition is reiserfs, then select support for reiserfs... and so on...

then recompile the kernel, copy the bzImage to /boot and reboot......

this should work.....

sometimes this error also happens because u included those modules in your xonfig that were not compatible with your hardware..... so check your kernel configuration again and remove all unnecessary modules......... and recompile.......

this should help..

bye,
kushal.

2.6.9 dosent have IDE enabled by default, check that IDE support is enabled unter drivers and the relevant selections (IDE disk, Generic IDE chipset, ...) are built into the kernel, unless you use a SCSI based machine, which i say, do the obvious

Hi there,

I've had the same problem ... Just make sure to compile into the kernel (not as a module) Device Drivers -> Block devices -> RAM disk support -> Initial RAM disk (initrd) support if you intend to use initrd...

pozdrawiam
catalyst82

how do i compile the kernel?
u told about device driver thing na,, for that

nisha

Well that's not quite right. The kernel doesn't stop booting if you have modules for non-existent hardware. If what you are saying is right then most default kernels that come with different linux distro would not even boot because they contain lot of **unneccessary** modules for your particular system.

However, removing unneccesary modules does help make the system leaner and the compile faster. Besides why do you need modules you don't have the hardware for?

Basically the OP forgot to include IDE support or file system support or even sata drivers (if the hard drive is sata). The best bet is to compile IDE support and file system support in the kernel (read not as module).

Initrd is only needed if you have any of the above compiled as modules.

Tux,