Kernel panic : Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

René1983

I just tried to install gentoo on an old PII system. Everything went smootly till I tried to start my system. I get the following error:

wynn · Advocate Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 2421 Location: UK

Usually when you get "VFS: Cannot open root device "hda3" or unknown-block(0,0)" it means that the high level and the low level IDE chipset drivers are not built in to the kernel.

Would you like to have a look at [FAQ] KC13: I just installed a new kernel and it won't boot and see if it helps?

I can't remember seeing an mtab before, there are a lot of /newroot things, you haven't got an initrd, have you?
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René1983 · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:36 pm Post subject:

I looked at it and I was able to solve this problem. But I got an other problem for it in return.

Now I get the following message (looks pretty simular)

D-M · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Posts: 103

df -Th

-T = type
-h = human readable

DM

wynn · Advocate Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 2421 Location: UK

René1983 · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:33 pm Post subject:

@D-M
Thnx, I found out I use the ext3 filesystem.

@wynn

Ok, I tried it, and it gives me the following output:

wynn · Advocate Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 2421 Location: UK

No, the e2fsck output is fine and there seems nothing out of place in the tune2fs output either.

The only other possibility that suggests itself is that there is another hard drive with three partitions, the third partition hasn't got a filesystem or it is not reiserfs, ext2 or ext3 and the kernel is trying to mount this as root.

If you wish to have a look at all the bootup messages from the kernel and you have a second machine which is networked then you could follow the howto here.

Otherwise I have no idea what's happening

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The avatar is jorma, a "duck" from "Elephants Dream": the film and all the production materials have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License, see orange.blender.org for details.

René1983 · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:00 pm Post subject:

I dont understand sh*t of it. I got it at many pc's.

Could a broken livecd have something to do with it?

I'm really lost, cause I must do something wrong, cause I cant get any system installed properly!

wynn · Advocate Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 2421 Location: UK

You could try installing using Ubuntu, for instance, and the The Gentoo Linux alternative installation method HOWTO if you suspect the install CD.

You could try installing Ubuntu to see if it works, and, if it does, what tweaks to the kernel it uses.

Further thoughts: could you give more details on the "old PII system"? Hard disk type, CPU, BIOS maker and date, lspci?

If the system is old enough, ACPI (which appears to be enabled by default in kernel configs) may not work properly. You could try downloading and running the Linux-ready Firmware Developer Kit from http://www.linuxfirmwarekit.org/ to see if it tells you anything.

Booting the kernel with netconsole enabled will show you all the bootup messages, there may be something there that helps solve the mystery.
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The avatar is jorma, a "duck" from "Elephants Dream": the film and all the production materials have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License, see orange.blender.org for details.