Problem about running kernel with root fs

Please help :

I try to run Linux kernel 2.4.0-test13-pre2 (ramdisk size =4096KB and initrd supported) with a root fs (hello.rfs from BlueCat) on a board equivalent to TQM855L with the following configuration :

  memstart    = 0x00000000
  memsize     = 0x01000000
  flashstart  = 0x02800000
  flashsize   = 0x00200000
  flashoffset = 0x00044000
  sramstart   = 0x00000000
  sramsize    = 0x00000000
  immr_base   = 0xff000000
  bootflags   = 0x00000001

........................
bootcmd=bootm 2800100
baudrate=9600
ethaddr=00:03:54:00:00:94
bootfile=/opt/tftpboot/vmlinux
bootargs=root=/dev/ram

When I "mkimage" with a single kernel image by

mkimage -A ppc -O linux -T kernel -C gzip -a 0 -e 0 \
-n 'test' -d arch/ppc/coffboot/vmlinux.gz \
/opt/tftpboot/vmlinux

and download it to the board, it runs as following :

Linux version 2.4.0-test13-pre2
Boot arguments: root=/dev/ram
..................................
Kernel command line: root=/dev/ram
..................................
Memory: 14752k available (956k kernel code,........
..................................
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize
...................................................
VFS: Cannot open root device "ram" or 01:00 Please append a correct "root=" boot option

Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 01:00

When I "mkimage" with the kernel and the root fs by

mkimage -A ppc -O linux -T multi -C gzip -a 0 -e 0 \
-n 'test' -d arch/ppc/coffboot/vmlinux.gz:hello.rfs \
/opt/tftpboot/vmlinux

and download it to the board, the "imi" shows

## Checking Image at 00100000 ...

   Image Name:   test
   Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Multi-File Image (gzip...
   Data Size:    629184 Bytes = 614 kB = 0 MB

Load Address: 00000000
Entry Point: 00000000
Contents:
Image 0: 516095 Bytes = 503 kB = 0 MB
Image 1: 113076 Bytes = 110 kB = 0 MB
Verifying Checksum ... OK

And, it runs as

## Booting Linux kernel at 00100000 ...

   Image Name:   test
   Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Multi-File Image (gzip...
   Data Size:    629184 Bytes = 614 kB = 0 MB

Load Address: 00000000
Entry Point: 00000000
Contents:
Image 0: 516095 Bytes = 503 kB = 0 MB
Image 1: 113076 Bytes = 110 kB = 0 MB
Verifying Checksum ... OK
Uncompressing Multi-File Image ... OK
Loading Ramdisk to db0fc000 ...

and then HALT forever!

What's wrong ?

---------------------------------------------------
Carl Lin [email protected]

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

...

That's a strange address to start an image at...

...

If you boot a plain kernel image with "bootm kernel_addr", there is no ramdisk image passed to the kernel, so it cannot work.

If you want to boot a kernel at "kernel_addr" with a separate ramdisk image at "ramdisk_addr" you have to use the command
"bootm kernel_addr ramdisk_addr".

...

Is that really the load address? 0xdb0fc000? That should not happen. You cannot have THAT much RAM on your board.

Wolfgang Denk

--
Software Engineering: Embedded and Realtime Systems, Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87 Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88 Email: [email protected] Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from two, it's research.

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As far as I know the BlueCat Root File System (RFS) is not exactly the same thing than initrd. The RFS is similar to the one used on LynxOS. On a BlueCat Linux kernel you must set CONFIG_BLUECAT_RFS (and unset CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD) to enable the BlutCat RFS kernel extension but I guess the kernel you use is not from BlueCat anyhow. There are also differences in the way the rootfs is setup at boot time.

Hope this helps,

Wolfgang.

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