Hello,

I'm currently running Slackware64 13.37 with the 2.5.38.4 huge kernel from /testing on a RAID1 root (ext3 on /dev/md0).

I'm trying to compile a custom kernel at the moment, but whenever I try to run it, the boot process seems to hang just after the /dev/md0 messages with an error like "VFS Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(9,0)". I'm following Alien Bob's kernel compile guide at http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...kernelbuilding

I've compiled ext2, ext3, ext4, RAID support in the kernel and I'm currently at a loss at what I'm still missing... It's probably something stupid that I'm currently overlooking

Any ideas are greatly appreciated

You'll need an initrd if you are booting from the RAID array.

Do I also need one when I compile everything in the kernel? I was under the impression this was not necessary?

Yes it's still needed.

Thank you for your answer. How do I know which modules to add?

run If you are sure you have all kernel modules built in you may not need to specify any modules so something like this might do it.

Don't forget to add your initrd line to lilo.conf and run lilo again

How come an initrd is not needed when using the Slackware huge kernel?

According to the mkinitrd_command_generator.sh I had to use "mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.38.4-tfx -f ext4 -r /dev/md0 -m ext4 -R -u -o /boot/initrd.gz" which I did, adapted lilo, still kernel panic

In my experience, the initrd has been required ever since the "raid-autodetect" behaviour changed in the kernel.

The raid array is assembled in the initrd.

Looking back at your first post you said that you had "RAID1 root (ext3 on /dev/md0)." so you'd need "-f ext3" (unless that was a typo)

Hmm, strange.

How come I don't need one when I use the huge kernel? Sorry about all the questions, I'm just trying to understand how the initrd and boot process works...

That was a typo, sorry ;-)