I am having problems with a kernel upgrade to 2.6.12.2 on my Inpsion 6000d. I have WinXP and Slackware dual boot on a 40 gig HD. I compiled the kernel many times selecting different combinations of options and every single time I get a kernel panic:

VFS: Cannot open root device "303" or unknown-block(3,3)
Please append a corrrect "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown block(3,3)

I have read on other forums and miscellaneous pages that the Inspiron 6000 has SATA type setup for the hard drive and that changing lilo to point to /dev/sda3 instead of the current /dev/hda3 solves it, along with many other ways of getting it to work. However, I am not so sure I have a SATA drive because using 2.4.29 my root filesystem points to /dev/hda3. Please, any help is appreciated.

boot into the old kernel, and paste the output in here from

mount
df -h
fdisk -l



as well, if you like, paste the kernel .config file at http://paste.linux-noob.com and we can see your config file to see if theres any errors in it (like forgetting to compile in FS support. i've done it before, dont laugh)

mount

/dev/hda3 on / type reiserfs (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
devpts on /devpts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)

df -h

/dev/hda3 4.1G 1.6G 2.5G 39% /

fdisk -l

/dev/hda1 * 1 4210 33816793+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 4211 4334 996030 82 Linux Swap
/dev/hda3 4335 4864 4257225 83 Linux

I pasted my .config also as suggested.

Thanks.

You have to give us the link to the file as well eh

and paste a copy here of grub.conf so we can see it.

Yep, I know...just didn't right away. Sorry.

http://paste.linux-noob.com/index.php?query=408

I use lilo so here is a copy of lilo.conf.

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/hda
#compact # faster, but won't work on all systems.
prompt
timeout = 300
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
vga = 773
# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# ramdisk = 0 # paranoia setting
# End LILO global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = Slack
read-only
# Non-UMSDOS filesystems should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hda1
label = WinXP
table = /dev/hda
# Windows bootable partition config ends

I figured it out myself. Applying the correct options while reconfiguring the kernel helps, but the biggest help was when I changed fstab to look at sda for swap and the root fs instead of hda. Duhh!!!

Thanks anyway.

post your fstab here so that others may learn

cheers

anyweb