# Not your average VFS kernel panic

## danierrr

Hi there,

First-time poster so go easy on me.

I recently rebooted my system with a new kernel (2.6.24.4-gentoo-r4), hand-customized, and now get the following error:

VFS: Cannot open root device "sda5f=&#@(A&" or unknown-block(0,0)

Yes, I've got libata, ata_generic, and pata_sis in the kernel -- these were all I needed before. My root partition is sda5, and doesn't have the trailing weird symbols (I put f=&#@(A& above, but it's different with every boot, and includes hearts, triangles, and the like) in the grub.conf file, so I'm not sure where they're coming from.

It then proceeds to list my partitions correctly -- it detects them all just fine. I'm writing this from an old USB stick I used to install Gentoo in the first place.

My questions are:

1) Where are those symbols coming from?

2) How can I get rid of them?

3) How can I fix my kernel so I can boot back into my system?

4) Where did the pata_acpi and ata_acpi configuration options go in the kernel menu for 2.6.24-gentoo-r4? I used / to locate them but they're not on the list (?)

I tried Googling this but the weird symbols and unusual presentation make it hard to find anything out. Sorry if the solution is trivial/obvious. It's not to me  :Smile: 

Daniel

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## Wadlax

I have same problem -    VFS: Cannot open root device "sdc3=   ....some crap symbols...   " or unknown-block(0,0) 

This is not my first boot with 2.6.24-r4 kernel

I reemerged all system and rebooted - now i have this error on boot.

Also - i tried to load some old kernels : 2.6.24-r2 , 2.6.23-r5   - same problem

(I worked on this kernels for a long time)

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## danierrr

Looks like it's a recently-emerged package at fault, then. I thought it wasn't my kernel because I'd booted into it once?/twice? before without troubles.

O Forum Gods, does anything in ~amd64 have the power to cause/trigger such errors? Maybe a new version of GRUB is screwing things up?

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## Henning Rogge

Just put a space behind the "root=...." line in your grub.conf

from my grub.conf:

"kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda7 "

(the space behind "sda7" seems to be important)

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## danierrr

Worked like a charm. Thanks, Henning Rogge! I'd've never thought of doing that.

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## darkphader

But which package? I think there are some other issues as well.

Was the grub update - already bugged several times.

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## tarpman

FWIW I've had this as well on a completely 32 bit system.  Fixed by adding the space at the end of the root= line.

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## wilburpan

This is the fault of grub-0.97-r5.

Revert back down to grub-0.97-r4.

There's a bug filed about this.

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