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greenbean
n00b
Joined: 08 Jan 2004
Posts: 38
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 Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:37 pm Post subject: Kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs |
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I didn't get this error the first few times linux loaded. However, Gentoo complained that the devfs wasn't compiled in, so I went back and added it, recompiled, and copied the files back to boot.
Now when I start Gentoo, I get: Kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs. What is the deal here? I checked the grub config and the fstab, and it looks ok. HELP!  |
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greenbean
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Joined: 08 Jan 2004
Posts: 38
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| Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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I forgot to add that I am using ReiserFS and I did have that compiled into the kernel.
Double |
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Psych0
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 127
Location: Carson City, Nevada USA
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| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 5:00 am Post subject: |
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There seems to be quite a bit concerning this very issue here here
and here but no definitive solution.
One thing I've noticed is this in the installation docs.
| Code: | (Deselect the following unless you have a 2.6 kernel)
[ ] /dev/pts file system for Unix98 PTYs |
Turning that off blows up the kernel compile unless you also turn off
| Code: | Character devices -->
[ ] Unix98 PTY support |
I'm trying Gentoo on a somewhat older machine, just to give it a try.
I've always left them on with debian 2.4 kernels, but it has had no effect on the kernel panic. Which goes like so...
| Code: | hda5 bad access: block=2, count=2
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:05 (hda), sector 2
EXT2-fs: unable to read superblock
hda5 bad access: block=64, count=2
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:05 (hda), sector 64
This continues for block=16 / sector=16 and block=128 / sector=128
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:05 |
Like others in the threads linked above I've triple checked everything, fstab, grub.config and it boots fine and complains about DEVFS if I turn off the DEVFS option. Automounting DEVFS at boot or not has no effect, I double checked that too. I am getting pretty handy at recompiling the kernel from a chroot off of the liveCD though! 
Considering that I'm in 'evaluation' mode on a test box I'm going to grab the 2004.x stage2 and do it again unless I get a better idea before I get to it. I might as well be thorough. I'd like to get as far as having X working on the test box before I decide if I'm going to tackle my main machine.
After all it's all configured and working fine. Yeah, yeah I know. If it isn't broken, mess with until it is
<edit> The kernel line in grub.conf does have the root=/dev/hda5 argument too. Dang, I thought I found it re-reading tazmanian's list. Thanks taz, that's a good list. Hasn't solved my problem, but a good list anyhoot.</edit>
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hänse
n00b
Joined: 05 Dec 2003
Posts: 52
Location: Zürich, Switzerland
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| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 7:00 am Post subject: |
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i had the same problem and it is definitely about the file systems... i just was sick of the options after compiling my kernel for the 50th time, so i just added most of the filesystems... almost all
now it works... |
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nE0
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 08 Aug 2002
Posts: 146
Location: The Netherlands, Breda
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| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| hänse wrote: | i had the same problem and it is definitely about the file systems... i just was sick of the options after compiling my kernel for the 50th time, so i just added most of the filesystems... almost all
now it works... |
And now your bzImage is about 2 or 3 meg's big, and it takes forver to load 
I would suggest to try it again, but remove all the filesystems you dont use. IE: If you'r not using ReiserFS on your disks, you could remove it from your kernel config.
It is not so much the filesystem's that are forgotten (except for the topicstarter ) but VFS is mostly forgotten (virtual File System)
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secondshadow
Guru
Joined: 23 Jun 2003
Posts: 362
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| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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I've had this problem before. Every time I try to create a config from scratch this happens to me. Then I fire up the LiveCD and type:
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mount /dev/hdb2 /mnt/gentoo
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot
cat /proc/config > /mnt/gentoo/usr/src/linux/.config
chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
env-update
cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
(set processor type and strip things I know I don't need out)
make dep && make clean bzImage modules modules_install && make install
exit
reboot
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and everything usually works just fine. I'm gonna diff my "from scratch" config against the stripped config I stole from the livecd and see if I can't determine what I keep missing.
EDIT: So my personal suggestion is to use the LiveCD config and just strip things out that you know you won't need (the bazillion ethernet card drivers...things like that). |
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Psych0
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 127
Location: Carson City, Nevada USA
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| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 9:30 pm Post subject: Kernel panic [Solved] |
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nE0 & Hanse,
Thanks for taking the time to reply / comment. By virtual File System I have to assume you mean 'Virtual memory file system (formerly shm fs)'? That was the only thing that looked even close, and yes I always leave that on.
I have just stumbled over the solution to mine, it helps if you include support for your IDE chipset in the kernel NOT as a module. What a dummy  I know better that that, I learned that ages ago!
I'm a little confused as to what was actually going on, why it would boot one time and not another. I guess one thing to be very careful of when doing the double checking when things don't seem to be working like you think they should is making sure you check timestamps on files. Mounting and umounting the boot partition which I swear I did will bite you too.
I guess my rather poor excuse has to be getting sidetracked by the noise about DEVFS. I've never used that before, as I imagine might be true of many that are coming to Gentoo from some other distribution.
So far Gentoo looks promising as a new choice of distro. The level of control is fantastic and the forums / community are super.
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trikke
n00b
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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i have the same problem
weird thing is i had it from the start when i compiled with genkernel
then i recompiled my system without genkernel it all rant fine till i did a reboot after installin xfree then the system gave me the error again
i used the 2.6.1 kernel |
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Installing Gentoo
