new kernal causes panic
 

Hello,

I have an IBM e235 server with 2 processors and a RAID array.
I am running Red hat Linux release 7.3 with kernel 2.4.17
I need to upgrade the kernel to 2.4.31 in order to solve a problem I have with the server continuously freezing.
I have tried several times but my attempts always fail. When I attempt to reboot with the new kernel it always ends with the following messages:

.
Net4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/smp for linux NET4.0.
Ds: no socket driver loaded!
Kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe –s –k block-major-8, errno =2
VFS: Cannot open root device “sda2” or 08:02
Please append a correct “root=” boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 08:02

The only difference I can see between the new and old kernel is that the old one has a “module" attached.

I am very new to Linux and this upgrade is very important.

Could some kind soul please either list out step-by-step what I need to do to install this new kernel on my server or point me to a website/posting with step-by-step instructions specific to my situation.

Thanks,

Ok... to me that error looks like the kernel doesn't have the support for you disk controller compiled in and therefore cannot read your root partition. If sda2 is your root partition, there are a couple of ways around this problem.

First, build a kernel from source that has the support for your disk controller compiled in, not as a module. There are many resources available for help you to build a new kernel.

Second, the kernel might have the drivers for the controller built as a module. If that is the case, you would need to make an initrd file which will attempt to load that driver before the kernel attempts to mount the root partition. Once again there are many resources available online to help with that.

Personally, I recommend compiling a kernel with the disk controller drivers compiled into it and not as a module.

Hope this help