2.4.31 kernel panic
 

Hi folks,

I've been trying for 2 days to install Slack 10.2 on a system I had 10.1 running on successfully.

My box runs dual Celerons, so I have to recompile with SMP enabled for it to work. I was able to do this easily with 10.1 and the 2.4.29 kernel.

However, now that I've decided to upgrade to Slack 10.2, my recompiled kernel always panics with the following:

ds: no socket drivers loaded!
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k block-major-33, errno = 2
VFS: Cannot open root device "2102" or 21:02
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 21:02


I'm using reiserfs and I've selected it to be compiled into my kernel each time, as I've seen that this will happen if fs support is not properly compiled, but I'm not sure that is my problem.

LILO config is as follows:

boot = /dev/hde
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 50
change-rules
reset
vga = 771

image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hde2
label = Linux
read-only
image = /boot/vmlinuz.old
root = /dev/hde2
label = Linux-2.4.31
read-only


I'm also missing a framebuffer in the recompiled kernel, which seems to be missing entirely from my menuconfig altogether.

Anyway, first priority is to get the system booting.

Thanks.

OK, well...

no replies, but it appears I fixed the problem.

I ran another vanilla install of Slack 10.2 from the CD and this time, instead of running make mrproper first, I ran oldconfig to see what the precompiled kernel has in it. I noticed a lot of things on the menuconfig that were NOT present when I tried to compile my own kernel.

I reinstalled all of the kernel source packages. After that, I was able to see all of the options that I was previously missing (with the exception of the framebuffer support, which I really don't need now).

I'm almost certain the thing I missed that was causing my recompiled kernel to panic was a missing HD controller driver under the IDE section. Mine is HPT 366, and I never saw or selected the HPT 36x driver before.

I hope this helps someone!

framebuffer option MISSING?
 

Framebuffer support is in experimental stages. Your kernel may be hiding the experimental options. If so, you can enabled viewing all kernel options by:

"Going into the Code Maturity Level menu, and enable the prompt for development and/or incomplete drivers."

You can also view the Framebuffer howto at http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO...fer-HOWTO.html

~Gian

Thanks,

I appreciate the information on the framebuffer.

The only reason I was using it once before was so I could run top on the box itself and see all of the processes and memory usage on the screen with a 1024 x 768 resolution. (There may be another way to get the console to display that resolution, but I just used the framebuffer.)

However, since I don't need the screen for that anymore, I don't need the framebuffer.

Thanks for letting me know, though. I may need it sometime in the future. ;)