hi I'm tryiing to install Mandrake 9.0 onto a compaq prosignia 500 server with 144M ram and scsi drives. At present it has a working redhat 7.0 on it.

I know that it's bios doesn't pass on the correct amount of installed ram so i started the install with the expert mem=144M options set.

But the install stops with a kernel panic VFS unable to mount root fs on 01:03.

if i let the install start with no options i get to second stage install before it stops with a low memory complaint.

I have tried redhat 8.0 with the same kernel panic problem.

I can get it to load if i use text option only it would take hours so i stopped it

can any one help please

Kernel panics are normally problems with the partition table on the HD. If your bios is not reporting the correct amount of RAM, it also may not be reporting the HD(s) properly either. Check your bios to make sure it has the correct cylinder, head, and sector counts for your drive, and is in LBA if necessary. (I'd guess that your bios may be reporting the drive in LARGE mode).

The most common reason for this is that the kernel doesn't have support for your hard disk compiled in.

Make sure you have SCSI support compiled into the kernel NOT as a module, and if necessary, the proper low-level support for your SCSI controller.