Skip to contentSkip to conversation

Can not boot: unable to mount root fs:

linux-lvm Samuel A. Rogers 4 participants 7 messages Sep 2, 2003 – Sep 3, 2003

lore
Share & tools
lore

Samuel A. Rogers

author
#0 lore raw

So far I can not compile and boot any kernel from 2.4.19 - 2.4.21. I get the below error message:

VFS: cannot open device 3a:00
kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs 3a:00

I took this from an archive message and it should be very close to the message I get except for the device number. I think mine says 1a:00 as I am only using ide and not scsi. The system locks up and I have to manually press the reset button to reboot.

I have checked the archives but could not find a solution.

Also the kernels I get from Redhat can boot just fine, but they have turned off my sound card so I need to regen the kernel. I have tried to get ahold of Redhat by phone, e-mail and newsgroup but no reply.

Regards,

Sam Rogers.

#1 lore raw
Quoted 5 lines · Samuel A. Rogers

So far I can not compile and boot any kernel from 2.4.19 - 2.4.21. I get the below error message:

VFS: cannot open device 3a:00
kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs 3a:00

send some more information, like a complete
bootup log, your boot loader and your kernel
configuration ...

best,
Herbert

Quoted 21 lines

I took this from an archive message and it should be very close to the message I get except for the device number. I think mine says 1a:00 as I am only using ide and not scsi. The system locks up and I have to manually press the reset button to reboot.

I have checked the archives but could not find a solution.

Also the kernels I get from Redhat can boot just fine, but they have turned off my sound card so I need to regen the kernel. I have tried to get ahold of Redhat by phone, e-mail and newsgroup but no reply.

Regards,

Sam Rogers.

_______________________________________________
linux-lvm mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/

author
#2 lore raw

Herbert,

I could send you a boot log but there is no information in it (to this problem) because the system locks up before it mounts the root (or other) partitions. Sorry your right that I should have included the boot loader, as it is grub. I am not sure what your wanting here, if it is a file or for me to discribe what I selected in the configuration. If it is a file please let me know what directory it is in and I will be happy to include it. I did select LVM and ext3 in the configuration.

Thank you for your help,

Sam.

Quoted 27 lines · Herbert Poetzl
Quoted 4 lines · Samuel A. Rogers

So far I can not compile and boot any kernel from 2.4.19 - 2.4.21. I get the below error message:

VFS: cannot open device 3a:00
kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs 3a:00

send some more information, like a complete
bootup log, your boot loader and your kernel
configuration ...

best,
Herbert

Quoted 11 lines

I took this from an archive message and it should be very close to the message I get except for the device number. I think mine says 1a:00 as I am only using ide and not scsi. The system locks up and I have to manually press the reset button to reboot.

I have checked the archives but could not find a solution.

Also the kernels I get from Redhat can boot just fine, but they have turned off my sound card so I need to regen the kernel. I have tried to get ahold of Redhat by phone, e-mail and newsgroup but no reply.

Regards,

Sam Rogers.

Quoted 9 lines
Quoted 5 lines

_______________________________________________
linux-lvm mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/

.

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 $1$fJRwapbJ$jxsALxSgdFjk02dHBhHmL0
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.21)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.21 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.21.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-20.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-20.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-20.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-19.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-19.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-19.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-18.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-18.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-18.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-13.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-13.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-13.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-9custom)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-9custom ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-9custom.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-6)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-6 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-6.img
#3 lore raw
Quoted 9 lines · Samuel A. Rogers

Herbert,

I could send you a boot log but there is no information in it (to this problem) because the system locks up before it mounts the root (or other) partitions. Sorry your right that I should have included the boot loader, as it is grub. I am not sure what your wanting here, if it is a file or for me to discribe what I selected in the configuration. If it is a file please let me know what directory it is in and I will be happy to include it. I did select LVM and ext3 in the configuration.

maybe you could put the following files/logs somewhere on the web

.config file from the kernel sources /usr/src/linux-<whatever>/.config the complete boot log (with all unrelated info ;)
the grub config file

best,
Herbert

Quoted 94 lines

Thank you for your help,

Sam.

Quoted 33 lines · Herbert Poetzl
Quoted 5 lines · Samuel A. Rogers

So far I can not compile and boot any kernel from 2.4.19 - 2.4.21. I get the below error message:

VFS: cannot open device 3a:00
kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs 3a:00

send some more information, like a complete
bootup log, your boot loader and your kernel
configuration ...

best,
Herbert

Quoted 16 lines

I took this from an archive message and it should be very close to the message I get except for the device number. I think mine says 1a:00 as I am only using ide and not scsi. The system locks up and I have to manually press the reset button to reboot.

I have checked the archives but could not find a solution.

Also the kernels I get from Redhat can boot just fine, but they have turned off my sound card so I need to regen the kernel. I have tried to get ahold of Redhat by phone, e-mail and newsgroup but no reply.

Regards,

Sam Rogers.

Quoted 9 lines
Quoted 5 lines

_______________________________________________
linux-lvm mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/

.

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 $1$fJRwapbJ$jxsALxSgdFjk02dHBhHmL0
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.21)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.21 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.21.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-20.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-20.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-20.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-19.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-19.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-19.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-18.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-18.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-18.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-13.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-13.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-13.9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-9custom)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-9custom ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-9custom.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-9.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-6)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-6 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-6.img
#4 lore raw
In reply to Samuel A. Rogers
Quoted 8 lines · Samuel A. Rogers

Herbert,

I could send you a boot log but there is no information in it (to this problem) because the system locks up before it mounts the root (or other) partitions. Sorry your right that I should have included the boot loader, as it is grub. I am not sure what your wanting here, if it is a file or for me to discribe what I selected in the configuration. If it is a file please let me know what directory it is in and I will be happy to include it. I did select LVM and ext3 in the configuration.

Quoted 17 lines

Thank you for your help,

Sam.

Quoted 12 lines · Herbert Poetzl
Quoted 5 lines · Samuel A. Rogers

So far I can not compile and boot any kernel from 2.4.19 - 2.4.21. I get the below error message:

VFS: cannot open device 3a:00
kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs 3a:00

send some more information, like a complete
bootup log, your boot loader and your kernel
configuration ...

I have had nothing but problems trying to get grub to boot a lvm root fs. I use lilo and have no problems at all. Below is the section of my lilo.conf.

image = /boot/bzImage

        root = /dev/vg0/lv0
        ramdisk = 8192
        initrd = /boot/initrd-lvm-2.4.20-gaming-r5.gz
        label = shadow
        read-only

I don't know about grub but in lilo I always had to give the ramdisk size.

Jayson Garrell

#5 lore raw
In reply to Samuel A. Rogers
Quoted 8 lines · Samuel A. Rogers
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.21 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.21.img
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-20.9)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-20.9 ro root=/dev/Volume00/LogVol00
	initrd /initrd-2.4.20-20.9.img

title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-19.9)

aha, now we are getting closer, you are obsviously using some LVM (volume manager) for your devices, and especially for your root device ...

have you (re) created the initrd for your new kernel? you'll probably need to do some vgscan/lvscan in the initial ram disk ... so this is important ...

HTH,
Herbert

#6 lore raw
In reply to Samuel A. Rogers
Quoted 11 lines · Samuel A. Rogers

So far I can not compile and boot any kernel from 2.4.19 - 2.4.21. I get the below error message:

VFS: cannot open device 3a:00
kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs 3a:00

I took this from an archive message and it should be very close to the message I get except for the device number. I think mine says 1a:00 as I am only using ide and not scsi. The system locks up and I have to manually press the reset button to reboot.

I have checked the archives but could not find a solution.

Quoted 8 lines

Also the kernels I get from Redhat can boot just fine, but they have turned off my sound card so I need to regen the kernel. I have tried to get ahold of Redhat by phone, e-mail and newsgroup but no reply.

Regards,

Sam Rogers.

I do not know exactly how far this discussion has progressed, since I have lost some mail recently and may have missed out. I apologize if my advice has already been given and rejected.
I experienced the exact same problem when installing a devfs capable kernel before installing the devfsd daemon. I use Debian, so I do not know where or how to find devfsd with redhat/RPM. Try installing devfsd and then rebooting one of the new kernels.
Best regards

Signature · 2 lines
Erik Rask, systems administrator @ AB Strakt
"There is no normal life. There's just life. So get on with it."