VFS Errors...

[pcbydesign]

ok, a little background.

I've done a stage 1 install of Gentoo 2004.3, I then did a deep world update in the hopes of getting KDE working (I've been working on this along with a room full of classmates for a couple of weeks now, but this is my home install I'm talking about, not school), I compiled the new Kernel, 2.6.10-gentoo-r6 and updated the virutal link, and copied the files around according to the wonderful handbook (the bzImage and System.map) and then rebooted. Well, a lot of things that were broken are now fixed (yeah), but the system won't boot.... I get this error after a few seconds of system startup.

"VFS: Cannot open root device "hda8" or unknown block (3, Please append correct "root=" boot option"
then
"Kernel Panic - not syncing VFS: Unable to mount fs on unknown block (3,"

Well... Hd0,0 is the only one that I've used in my GRUB configuration or anywhere else, so I don't know where it gets the "(3," stuff. My hardware is the same as before, the 20GB hard drive plugged into the primary channel, hasn't moved...

I've checked my fstab, grub.conf and backtracked and checked all my steps for the Gentoo install, and I can't figure out where I've gone wrong.

So...

HELP!

Thanks

Doodiehead.

Gentoo Noob, but learning Noobie fast

[Frodg]

Could you post your:
grub.conf
fstab

You say you have one drive - have you artitoned it and if so in what way? Were is boot, /,swap, etc.....?
_________________
Aerosolo ergo sum - I spray therefore I am

Gentoo - Registered Linux User # 361400

[pcbydesign]

ok more info, I'll have to get the fstab and the grub.conf when I get home... but I think I already know what they are...

my partitions/mounts are as follows

/dev/hda1 /boot
/dev/hda2 /swap
/dev/hda5 /var
/dev/hda6 /opt
/dev/hda7 /root/download
/dev/hda8 /
/dev/hda9 /home
/dev/hda10 /usr

I know the scheme is weird, but that's how we're doing it in class.

my grub is pretty simple.

hd(0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.10-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/hda8 vga=791

and that's the meaty part of grub, I'll post the grub.conf and fstab when I get home

[pcbydesign]

oh yeah, and all the partitions are ext3 except for /boot which is ext2 and swap of course.

[cyrillic]

[pcbydesign]

but during the complie I used the via busmaster chipset drivers and selected ext3,ext2 and reiser as the file systems (i'm actually temped to complie again to see if there is anything that will make a difference, but I'm pretty sure that I did that =\

[Heidrun]

Hi I have the same problem on my amd64. I have used Linux for one year now, but I'm new in Gentoo.
Nearly finished with the installation I got the bootloader problem with my sata-disc.

I cant figure out where I'm missing something, but I can see its not a isolated problem.
I have included grub.conf fstab and important parts of the kernel configfile (I know the huge size of the configfile. I really had tried to shorten it.)

If I finds something you had to know (a solution or important data) I will post it asap.

My error message sounds:
VFS: Cannot open root device "sda7" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option - Kernel panic
not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

My grub.conf: (the comments is previous attempts)
title Linux 2.6.9-gentoo-r14
root (hd0,2)
#kernel /kernel-2.6.9-gentoo-r14 root=/dev/sda7 video=vesafb-tng:ypan,1024x768-32@85
#kernel /kernel-2.6.9-gentoo-r14 root=/dev/sda7
#kernel /kernel-2.6.9-gentoo-r14 root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/sda7 init=/linuxrc ramdisk_size=8192 "vga=0x317 splash=verbose"
#initrd /initrd-2.6.9-gentoo-r14
kernel /kernel-2.6.9-gentoo-r14 root=/dev/sda7
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-gentoo-r14

My fstab:
#LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
#LABEL=/boot /boot ext2 defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 1 2
#LABEL=/home /home ext3 defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/sda7 / ext3 defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sda3 /boot ext2 defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/sda8 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sda4 /home ext3 defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,user 0 0
/dev/hda /mnt/dvdrom auto noauto,user 0 0
/dev/hdc /mnt/dvdrw auto noauto,user 0 0

The file-system parts of GenKernel config file: (I have tried to compile my kernel several times with various configurations)
#
# General setup
#
CONFIG_SWAP=y
CONFIG_IKCONFIG_PROC=y

#
# ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support
#
CONFIG_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_SATA is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD_IDE is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y
# CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI is not set

#
# IDE chipset support/bugfixes
#
CONFIG_IDE_GENERIC=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y
# CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_GENERIC=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_FORCED is not set
CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y
# CONFIG_IDEDMA_ONLYDISK is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_AMD74XX=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SIIMAGE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y
CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y

#
# SCSI device support
#
CONFIG_SCSI=m
CONFIG_SCSI_PROC_FS=y

#
# SCSI low-level drivers
#
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA=y
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_NV=y
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL=y
CONFIG_SCSI_QLA2XXX=m

#
# File systems
#
CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS_SECURITY=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_SECURITY=y
CONFIG_JBD=y
CONFIG_JBD_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_FS_MBCACHE=y
# CONFIG_REISERFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_JFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
# CONFIG_XFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_MINIX_FS is not set
# CONFIG_ROMFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_QUOTA=y
# CONFIG_QFMT_V1 is not set
CONFIG_QFMT_V2=m
CONFIG_QUOTACTL=y
CONFIG_DNOTIFY=y
# CONFIG_AUTOFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_AUTOFS4_FS=y

#
# Pseudo filesystems
#
CONFIG_PROC_FS=y
CONFIG_PROC_KCORE=y
CONFIG_SYSFS=y
# CONFIG_DEVFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_DEVPTS_FS_XATTR is not set
CONFIG_TMPFS=y
CONFIG_HUGETLBFS=y
CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE=y
CONFIG_RAMFS=y

#
# Partition Types
#
CONFIG_PARTITION_ADVANCED=y
CONFIG_MSDOS_PARTITION=y
CONFIG_LDM_PARTITION=y

[tomAEs]

had the same problem. i compiled the ide chipset support as module. you need to compile it into the kernel to make it work on boot.

[cyrillic]

[Heidrun]

[nick-brown]

TomAE's solution worked for me - cheers mate

N