Hi all,
I installed slackware 10.1 on my Acer TM4150 laptop in order to dual boot winxp and linux via lilo. After the installation I was not able to boot winxp again, that's why winxp lives on primary master hd (or it supposes to) while linux recognizes the hard disk correctly as /dev/hdc. I needed to get the access to winxp urgently so I restored the windows political incorrect mbr using fixmbr command.. then I found out that using master-boot option for winxp section in the lilo.conf would help me to fix the problem. Ok, at this point winxp was booting correctly but slackware did not:

VFS : Cannot open root device "1603" or 16:03
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic : VFS : Unable to mount root fs on 16:03 (i.e. /dev/hdc3)

Searching around for a fix, I found out this problem may be due to unsupported fs (module used instead of being included in monolithic kernel).. but reiserfs should work with default bareacpi.i kernel image, shouldn't it?

I tried to reinstall lilo many times, using the lilo.conf generated by liloconfig procedure or editind by hand, rdev'ing the kernel image.. I also re-installed the os just to get back to a working linux system, but I was not successful.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!!

>m<

Hi,
Could you boot from a slackware boot cd (1st or 2nd CD)
and post the output of fdisk -l /dev/hdc

Also maybe post your lilo.conf as well if you can

Here they're:

bash-3.00# fdisk -l /dev/hdc

Disk /dev/hdc: 60.0 GB, 60011642880 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7296 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 1275 10241406 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdc2 1276 1338 506047+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdc3 1339 1837 4008217+ 83 Linux
bash-3.00#

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
append="hdc=ide-scsi"
boot = /dev/hdc
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
lba32
timeout = 1200
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
vga = 773
# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# End LILO global section
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hdc1
label = Windows
table = /dev/hdc
master-boot
# Windows bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hdc3
label = Linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

A just add lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 2590 (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 2591 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB (rev 04)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB (rev 04)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB (rev 04)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB (rev 04)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB2 (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev d4)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub Audio (rev 0
4)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub Modem (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 2641 (rev 04)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 2653 (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub SMBus (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0167 (rev
a1)
02:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Contro
ller (PHY/Link)
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 170c (rev 02)
02:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 4220 (rev 05)
02:04.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc: Unknown device 1412 (rev 10)
02:04.1 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc: Unknown device 0530 (rev 01)
02:04.2 Class 0805: ENE Technology Inc: Unknown device 0550 (rev 01)
02:04.3 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc: Unknown device 0520 (rev 01)
02:04.4 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc: Unknown device 0551 (rev 01)

and lsmod from slax 5.0.5:

Module Size Used by
ipv6 234880 8
snd_pcm_oss 48416 0
snd_mixer_oss 17536 3 snd_pcm_oss
ohci_hcd 19976 0
intel_agp 20124 1
shpchp 92036 0
uhci_hcd 29712 0
eth1394 19336 0
ehci_hcd 30984 0
snd_intel8x0 29120 2
snd_intel8x0m 16580 0
snd_ac97_codec 76412 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m
snd_pcm 79876 4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m,snd_ac97_
codec
snd_timer 22020 1 snd_pcm
snd 48356 7 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_intel
8x0m,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 8032 3 snd
snd_page_alloc 8452 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m,snd_pcm
i8xx_tco 7064 0
i2c_i801 8716 0
i2c_core 18816 1 i2c_i801
ohci1394 31236 0
ieee1394 91704 2 eth1394,ohci1394
b44 20484 0
mii 4864 1 b44
yenta_socket 20104 0
rsrc_nonstatic 9600 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 41888 2 yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
nls_utf8 2688 1
agpgart 28972 1 intel_agp
evdev 8192 0
psmouse 25736 0
nls_iso8859_2 5376 0
nls_iso8859_1 4864 0
nls_cp437 6528 0
unionfs 108280 1
squashfs 31668 6
isofs 32828 0
zlib_inflate 17920 2 squashfs,isofs
loop 13448 12

Please feel to ask me any further information
Thanks a lot!

I don't use lilo myself, but your config seems a bit heavy

Could you try this light version :
Also do not add append="hdc=ide-scsi",
hdc is your hard drive so do not use scsi emulation for it

Hi,
I'm writing from my working slackware partition!
Thank you very much!

This the definitive lilo.conf

boot=/dev/hdc
default=linux
prompt
timeout=1200
message = /boot/boot_message.txt

other=/dev/hdc1
label=windows
table=/dev/hdc
master-boot # added this just to boot winxp..

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label=linux
root=/dev/hdc3
read-only

the next step is kernel compilation..

Just remember to leave a working kernel so you can still get back to your system without the help of a livecd. Usually the installed kernel from the cd works and I just leave that.