Kernel Panic on Boot from CD

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Username : Date : Action : Comments [ close all ]
consultant : 29/10/01 06:30 PM : Incident created -   Hi, I'm attempting to install Mandrake to a Compaq Proliant. On booting from the CD it goes trhough the usual startup mesages, and once it gets to the section where it tries to mount a root device I get this error message: ---- VFS: Cannot open root device "ram3" or 01:03 Please append a correct "root=" boot option Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 01:03 ---- Surely in the case of the boot CD, the boot and root devices are the same? Ergo, if it's booting, it should be able to mount root? Anyone? Cheers T
consultant : 29/10/01 06:40 PM : More info provided -   BTW, Redhat 7.1 Boot CD works fine, but I want to use Mandrake not Redhat :)
wilck : 29/10/01 10:39 PM : Reply received -   No, the root is mounted on a RAM disk (/dev/ram3). However, if that can't be mounted, something is going horribly wrong. Most likely the reason is hidden somewhere earlier in the logs.
consultant : 30/10/01 11:13 AM : More info provided -   I've checked the previous messages, and everything else goes smoothly, it initialises a whole bunch (512 I believe) of Ramdisks @ 32000K each, no other error messages are reported anywhere. Oh and BTW did I mention that Redhat has no problems at all with mounting root and installs perfectly? In addition to this, the Mandrake Distro I am using has been used for 14 successful installations to other servers/workstations. It strikes me as something which is incompatible with the Compaq server (Proliant 6400R) I am using and the Mandrake boot CD. Any further help would be appreciated. Regards Consultant
Iron Fist : 30/10/01 01:01 PM : Reply received -   let me see. the cdrom is ide. it has booted thanks to the bios support for atapi boot devices. it failed afterwards when (i am guessing here) the kernel has been trying to access to the cdrom himself (without the bios), and mounting it on the loop back device (hence the /dev/ram3 error message). thus : the scsi sub-system has not been accessed yet. everything we have at this stage is reduced to : kernel, ide cd access. as a consequence, I would suspect : - if you have more then 1 Gb, then please downgrade it to 1gb max only to complete the install process. if it does work, then install kernel-entreprise, shutdown, put back your memory, reboot) - try booting from cdrom n°2 (yes, it IS bootable) - swap the cdrom drive with a well trusted one. MdK kernel might have become touchy in the process of getting from 8.0 to 8.1 Viet MdK support
consultant : 30/10/01 02:34 PM : More info provided -   OK, 1. I have 256MB RAM, (and 2 x Xeon 500MHz) 2. Booting from CD2 worked like a charm, but I chose to boot from the default (2.4.8) on the second CD. I thought this Kernel was the same as the 2.4.8 on the first CD? But it works anyway. I'd be interested to know why the first CD failed though. Many Thanks for your help T.
consultant : 30/10/01 03:30 PM : Incident closed -   I think I got good value for money on this incident. However, it would have been nice to have pinpointed the issue. A work around in this instance is great though as it had minimal impact on the required result. Many Thanks

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