Kernal Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 00:00

[hitman_et]

Whenever i try and boot i get these errors

 RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
invalid compressed format &#40;err=2&#41;<6>Freeing initrd memory&#58; 143k freed
VFS&#58; Cannot open root device "LABEL=/" or 00&#58;00
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernal Panic&#58; VFS&#58; Unable to mount root fs on 00&#58;00

Kernal Ver.=2.4.20-31.9
Kernal boot options(i think??, the options listed when i click 'e')

root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinux-2.4.20-31.9 ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi
initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.20-31.9.img

i tried using the original kernel version that came with redhat 9 but it gave same errors.

I havent updated or changed the kernel for 6 months. and i dont think i changed anything the last time i used the computer.
I suspect it might have soemthing to do with the harddrive.

I tried a knoppix cd but it gave me much the same errors, the kernel panic and invalid compressed format. I also got an error about SMP

Thanks in Advance

[dylunio]

It seems not to understand RH's LABEL feature (well it's not much of a feature...more of an annoyance).

For the stanza in your grub.conf try

root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinux-2.4.20-31.9 ro root=/hda2 hdc=ide-scsi
initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.20-31.9.img

see if that works.

You'll have to boot a live cd to do the above changes. It's also possible to enter there lines at a grub prompt when grub appears.

[hitman_et]

/dev/hda1 gives the following error

RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
invalid compressed format &#40;err=2&#41;<6>Freeing initrd memory&#58; 143k freed

EXT2-fs warning &#40;device ide0&#40;3,1&#41;&#41;&#58; ext2_read_super&#58; mounting ext3 filesytem as ext2
EXT2-fs error &#40;device ide0&#40;3,1&#41;&#41;&#58; ext2_check_descriptors&#58; Inode bitmap for group 8 not in group &#40;block 2&#41;
EXT2-ds&#58; group descriptors corrupted!!

NOTE this also sometimes gives a error about "Unable to start initial console. Try setting init="
So i tried setting init=/sbin/init. but it gave same error

/dev/hda2 gives

RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
invalid compressed format &#40;err=2&#41;<6>Freeing initrd memory&#58; 143k freed
EXT2-fs&#58; ide0&#40;3,2&#41;&#58; couldn't mount because of optional features &#40;4&#41;.

[dylunio]

Hmm, I'm not very sure what's going on here, Ive looked a bit around the web, and have found the same error (as the first you had) in a few places, you might want to check out http://kerneltrap.org/node/2973#new where they did seem to fix it.

[hitman_et]

Could this actually be a problem with my ram?? As i tried to boot with different ram and it booted fine, but when i plugged the network cable in the computer froze and wont boot again. In fact after i switched the old ram to different slots the computer would either freeze at "Checking nvram" or the screen would not turn on. Now, with the new ram in, the monitor will not turn on.

Could there be a problem with my ram slots? Is there anyway to tell?

Thanks

[kevkim55]

Invalid compressed format --> tells me that your initrd image is corrupt in some way. Try creating a new initrd image using mkinitrd and specify all the necessary modules with --preload option of mkinitrd.
Change kernel parameter root=LABEL=/ to root=/dev/hda2. If that doesn't work do a "ls -l" on /dev/directory and lok for the major & minor numbers of hda2. Now specifiy root=0x0y where x - major number & y - minor number.

I had the same problem with 2.4.x kernel. But in my case I'd installed linux on my external Matrox hard drive and was trying to boot it off from there ! I tried everything I knew out of my experience - nothing helped I just couldn't get it working.
Finally, I installed kernel 2.6.x and voila ! It didn't need any tweaking, worked straight to my new desktop !!

Good luck !