problem with 2.6.10 kernel in slack 10.2
 

i just compiled the 2.6.10 kernel on slack 10.2 follwoing these instructions

linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/Applications_GUI_Multimedia/Compiling_kernel_2_6_10_on_a_Slackware_10_1

as far as i know everything went fine with compiling the kernel but when i go to boot it i get this error

cannot open root device 304 or unknown block(3,4)
please append a correct "root=" boot option
kernel planic - not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs in unkown-block(3,4)

since before i found those instructions for compiling the kernel i was having a lot of difficulty doing so and tried reinstalling slack using the optional 2.6.13 kernel to avoid having to update it myself. when i ran the installation setup using the 2.6.13 kernel slack was calling my devices /dev/sdax istead of hdax when the devices are ide.
ok so after all that nonsense with the 2.6.13 kernel i reinstalled with 2.4 default and that works fine. i've now compiled the 2.6.10 on a fresh install

my lilo.conf looks like this

image = /boot/vmlinuz-old
root = /dev/hda4
label = slack-2.4
read-only
image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10
root = /dev/hda4
label = slack-2.6.10
read-only

the error i got with that lilo telling me to give a valid "root=" option reminded me of slack calling my devices sdax so under the 2.6.10 image part of lilo i changed it to

root = /dev/sda4

which returns this error

/sbin/e2fsck: No such device or adress while trying to open /dev/hda4

same thing when it tries to open the swap partition on /dev/hda3

"an error occured during the root filesystem check. you will now be given a chance to log into the system in single-user mode to fix the problem

if you are running an ext2 filesystem, running 'e2fsck -v -y <partition>' might help."

this is embarassing but i forget which filesystem i chose because i reinstalled so many times but i think it's ext2, if not reisers.
i think if all components of the OS saw my devices as sdax instead of hda it would work, but that would also be really weird because they are not sata.

Hi, and welcome to LQ!

Try
a) compiling both ext3/reiser into the kernel rather than as modules.
b) compiling SATA controllers into the kernel.


The 2.6.13 that came with slack is most likely to be the better choice;
if it doesn't quite cut I'd suggest getting a NEWER version of 2.6 rather
than the old. We're up to 2.6.17.3



Cheers,
Tink

could you explain what doing those means
:newbie:

It means exactly that; all you need to do is find them in whichever
method you chose to configure the kernel, and make sure they have an
x rather than an m. Or, if your comfortable with emacs or vi just
edit the .config file in the kernels source dir directly and find
the corresponding lines, changing them from
<keyword>=m
to
<keyword>=y


Cheers,
Tink

recompiling kernel with
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_GENERIC=y

and without
ADVANCED PARTITION SELECTION fixed it

for anyone else who might be having this problem

Has anyone seen this issue in the latest kernel? I'm having the exact same problem on my box running 2.6.13, and am debating between upgrading the kernel (if it fixes the problem) and/or trying the above fix.

It's getting muy irritating... ;)

Dave

whatever kernel upgrade you're making, always refresh your initrd. for example, if you have /boot/initrd.gz, do where <version> is your new kernel's version example '2.6.16.22'

i got everything working with the 17 kernel
but still made the above changes in my config

this error came from the kernelwhile this error only comes from the boot script
don't you think root=/dev/sda4 is the right parameter and not root=/dev/hda4? perhaps you only need to update your fstab and/or the other startup configs.