[lug] Kernel Panic With Debian/2.4.6/GRUB

[David Anselmi]

Dhruva B. Reddy wrote:
> I just gutted my system (upgraded to a P4 2.8 on an Intel D865PERL mobo,
> with SATA drive).  Now I can't seem to boot my new 2.6 kernel.
> 
> I installed Debian sarge, choosing the ext3 file system, which installed
> a 2.4.25 kernel.  I installed the 2.6.4 kernel-source package and built
> the kernel (and yes, I remembered to build ext3 support into the kernel).

You can try installing one of Debian's kernel-image packages.  2.6.3 is 
in testing and 2.6.4 is in unstable.  That is probably easier than 
making your own (and gets you a usable .config even if you have to build 
your own).

> When I try to boot, it complains that it can't mount my root partition
> and the kernel panics.  It gives the partition as (hd0,1) and says to
> set the "root" parameter to something valid.  However, in my GRUB config
> file, the settings for the 2.6.4 kernel are identical to those for the
> 2.4.25 kernel, except that there is a "initrd" parameter for the 2.4.25
> kernel.

The panic is because the kernel can't mount the root partition.  To do 
that it needs drivers for SATA (perhaps mobo chipset) and ext3.  So 
probably you're missing the former.  Do you know which config options 
you need for SATA?  Do you know that all the needed drivers are built-in 
rather than modules (in which case you still need initrd)?

You can get hints on the config from your 2.4.25 kernel or from a stock 
2.6.x kernel (look in /boot).

Dave