unable to mount root
 

Hi,
i have install rh7.1 on a amd 900 mhz with wd 40 gb drive, geforce2 mx ,256 mb mem,abit kt7a rid mobo. all of the install went fine and got everything configured. my kernal was 2.4.2-2. i ran it for a week to make sure no errors and everything work ok. then i registered with rh and got errata . then i went thru update and selected all the rpms that it showed to apply to my system. i went thru the upgrade and did not get any errors. so once it was done i figured i would reboot to see what kernal msg would show and if did upgrade kernal(2.4.9). when i rebooted i got this msg and it froze.
ext2-fs : unable to read superblock
isofs_read_super : bread failred dev=09:02 iso_blknum=16 block=32
kernal panic : vfs unable to mount root fs on 09:02

i figured it had something to do with the new kernal with ext3 and ext2 fs. i been reading about both systems. but cannot determine what i need to do.
patch the kernal or migrate ext 2 to 3 or what ??? any help would be greatly apprecaited.

When you did the kenrnel upgrade did you include etx3fs support?

not sure , when the update kick off and show all the rpms that were applicable to my system. i told it to select all of them . not sure if that was one or not. when the update ran it create what looks like a backup of the old version and put it in lilo as linux bak.
i can still bring this up with no errors.

So then it sounds like your newer kernel has no ext3 support built-in or as modules. You'll need to build it from source or modules. Check out www.linuxdoc.org for the Kernel How-To.

having the exact same probs but slightly different system
 

Sorrie, imma a newbie to linux and i tried looking through the How-To doc for the kernel, but im not seeing anything which directs me toward fixing the problem with the ext2-fs specifically. Is there anything you can suggest to narrow down my search or a more specific fix to the problem?

to further elaborate, im asking more along the lines of where can i find the ext3 module or whatnot because i tried doing a few search for google on ext3 module and don't get anything worthwhile.

many thanks in advance

Same problem redhat 8 dell inspiron 400
 

Hello,

I just used up2date to get the most recent kernel for redhat 8. When I reboot the computer the boot halts and I'm unable to run even a command line. Here are the last three messages:

*****************************************
EXT2-fs: unable to read superblock

isofs_read_super : bread failed, dev = 09:02, iso_blknum=16, block=32

Kernel Panic : VFS : Unable to mount root fs on 09:02

*****************************************

I'm using a Dell Inspiron 4000 800Mhz, 40GB, 256Meg, BIOS A20.
The machine dual boots w/ Win2K using Paragon bootmanager.

Is there a way to back down to the old kernel? Is there any type of emergency boot mode?

I'm a newbie and really stuck! Any help is greatly appreciated.

Also, why do you think this is an ext3 problem when the error message says ext2? I' m pretty sure I'm running ext2.

Thanks,
Joe

I've found a temporary solution to this. If I understand correctly, it looks like the boot loader thought the root partion was on a raid device (09:02). Weird. I'm able to boot the new kernel by pressing F2 when booting and manually entering the root parameter:

root=/dev/hda3

Now I just need to figure out where to put this so that I don't have to manually enter it each time. I thought it might be grub.conf, but that doesn't seem to do it and I can't find etc/lilo.conf. Does anyone know how do to this? Am I headed in the right direction?

Also, how can I determine which bootloader the OS is actually using?

Thanks again,
Joe

are you actually using lilo - or grub??

I'm using grub -

vi /boot/grub/grub.conf

and I cannot find any lilo.conf file either - are you sure you are using lilo??

here is what my grub.conf looks like [when grub comes up i have a list of each kernel I can boot to after I upgrade]:

==============================================

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda7
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 $XxXxXxxxxxxxXXXXXXxXxxxxXXxXXXx
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-20.9)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-20.9 ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.4.20-20.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-19.9)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-19.9 ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.4.20-19.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-8)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-8 ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8.img

==============================================

I am presuming you would need to uncomment out the:

#boot=/dev/hda

section to boot to it specifically.

How can I find out what the LABEL in "root=LABEL=/" points to. I think that may be my culprit.

can't you just replace "root=LABEL=/" with "root=/dev/hda3" as they do in that example at the top of grub.conf?

yeah that should be it. Back up original FIRST!!!!

I saw that in another post and tried it, but there was no change. I modified /boot/grub/grub.conf. This is the correct file and location, no? Also, as I mentioned before, I still don't know how to determine if i'm using GRUB or LILO for sure. Is there a sure fire way to positively identify your boot loader? The stuff flashes so fast at boottime that I can't see it there. I know it's basic but like I said I'm very new.

Thanks again,
Joe

what does the boot loader look like? what colors? light blue ?? dark blue??

I never asked what it looked like, thanks though.