# unable to mount [solved]

## Akheron

hey all. just finished installing gentoo and everything went fine except when i boot up gentoo i get these errors:

root-nfs: no NFS server available, giving up.

VFS: unable to mount root fs via NFS, trying floppy.

cannot open root device "sda3" or unknown block (2,0)

please append a correct "root=" boot option

kernel-panic not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown block(2,0)

to me its saying it cant mount because of a bad option but im not sure how to fix this. any help would be great, ive been up all night trying to get this damn thing to boot.Last edited by Akheron on Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:32 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## krinn

as simple as that:

kernel cannot find your harddisk because he didn't find the proper drivers to handle your controller.

(else kernel would have show you valid partitions and drives it found)

1/ you didn't add the proper harddisk controller driver in your kernel

or

2/ you did, but compile it as a module, for booting you need build-in support.

If you don't know what driver you need... output lspci and users will be able to point you to the right path.

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## Akheron

i have an nvidia chipset. i forgot to enable nvidia sata support. maybe this will do it. thanks. ill let you know if it works.

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## Akheron

it fixed the problem but now i have a new one.

fsck.ext3: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/ROOT

/dev/ROOT:

The superblock could not be read or does not describe the correct ext2 filesystem.

If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else),

then the superblock is corrupt, and you may try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:

e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

Filesystem could'nt be fixed

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## slackline

Lets take a step back here.

If you could help us understand what you did during the install that would be very useful.

How many partitions did you create, and what file system did you format them as?

What kernel version are you using and what does your config look like? (Use Pastebin for the kernel config as its quite big).

What does your /etc/fstab look like?

What does your GRUG/LILO config look like?

You'll likely have to boot with the install CD to get the kernel config, fstab and boot loader configs, but this information will make it a lot easier for people to help troubleshoot.

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## Akheron

slackline your fing amazing! You didnt do anything yet you helped me. You asked for my fstab config which made me realise i never configured it. I just did and now it boots fine! Thanks man!

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## slackline

Always the simple things  :Smile: 

You must have missed a fairly important step in the excellent Installation handbook, but I'm glad its sorted now   :Very Happy: 

slack

P.S. - If you could edit your first post and add '[SOLVED]' to the subject line it will help others searching the forums   :Wink: 

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