[haha326]

Hi, I just installed the latest stable kernel (2.6.24.2) mainly for its VM support and sound (got a new motherboard, M2N32, and the sound doesn't work now). My main partition is ext2fs and I have definitely compiled ext2 support into my kernel, but every time I boot off of it, I get:

VFS: Cannot open root device "301" or unknown-block(3,1)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(3,1)

It looks like it can't read the file system, but I've got ext2 and the drivers are there. I've never run into this installing a new kernel before, and I'm just upgrading from 2.6.21.4. Some of the normal configuration options in the kernel I noticed that were extremely standard (and usually automatically selected for inclusion) were NOT included by default in this new kernel config. That makes me wonder if I've missed something, but I've been through the menu almost 10 times now. I have all the IDE and ext2fs support as well as any extras that may remotely be causing this error, but alas, no luck.

Also, I've heard about using an initrd, but that seems to be for loading modules at boot and since I have support compiled into the kernel, I'm guessing I don't need it.

Any ideas would be warmly welcome.

[monsgrapius]

I had exactly the same problem trying to install the vanilla 2.6.24.2 kernel onto an old Slackware 10 box.

The initrd bit is a complete red-herring (although some people do suggest it is the fix). Initrd is only of use if you need to load modules vital to the system boot e.g. if you have the root file system driver compiled as a module. Which neither of us has done.

The problem is actually that the 2.6.24.2 vanilla kernel does not include the IDE/ATA2 disk support option by default, it's just blank, the assumption must be that everyone is using SCSI or SATA (which "looks" like SCSI) nowadays. Recompile your kernel and make sure the IDE/ATA2 option (found in device drivers->ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL Support) is included in your kernel build. That along with the (root) filesystem driver compiled into the kernel should get you sorted.

One other thing I included in my 2.6.24.2 build (don't think it is necessary) was support for PCBIOS (MSDOS Partition tables) under the Advanced Partition Selection (in Partition Types).

Good luck.

[feinoM]

Originally Posted by monsgrapius

One other thing I included in my 2.6.24.2 build (don't think it is necessary) was support for PCBIOS (MSDOS Partition tables) under the Advanced Partition Selection (in Partition Types).

Good luck.

I had the exact same problem and this really helped me out. I had forgotten to enable it, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Once I enabled it everything went smoothly =)

Thank you very much for the tip!