András Stöckert wrote:

> Hy,
> I have installed lfs 6.2 and used the 2.6.16.53. The / fs is /dev/hda5
> and is ext3. At boot I get the following error:
> 
> "
> VFS: Cannot open root device "hda5" or unknown-block(0,0)
> Please append a correct "root=" boot option
> Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs or
> unknown-block(0,0) "
> 
> I got also a Windows XP on hda1 and a Debian Etch on hda2. Hda6 is
> swap and hda7 is intended for /home, hda5-7 is a logical partition.
> 
> Andrew


In my (admittedly limited) experience, there are several /common/ causes for
an unknown-block(0,0) error from VFS. I'll give a brief description of the
few that immediately come to mind, and some steps you might take to begin
to figure out exactly what's happenning.

1) If you are using an SATA drive and trying to access it as an IDE device
(hdx), that can cause major problems. If this is the case, you will want to
compile the SCSI SATA drivers into your kernel (and make sure theat the old
IDE SATA drivers don't get compiled into it), and make sure you mount as a
SCSI device (sdx). Of course, if you are indeed using an IDE drive,
disregard this first possibility.

2) You made a simple mistake such as giving different devices
in /boot/grub/menu.lst and /etc/fstab. Posting the pertinent parts of both
would be helpful in tracking down this problem.

3) A driver or hardware or some other issue that is just keeping your kernel
from reading your drive directly. The easiest way to begin checking this is
to add (in grub) an option rootdelay=<seconds> -- I reccommend 300 (five
minutes) or more, just to make absolutely sure you have enough time, then
once you see a message that says it's waiting for some number of seconds to
mount root, scroll up in the boot messages (SHIFT + PGUP) and look for a
place where it lists all of your partitions (in your case, hda1-hda7?) on
one line. Also look for (probably in the same place) where it shows the
device itself (hda). Posting all the pertinent information you find from
this may help.

Greg

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