# Kernel Panic: unable to mount something...

## poisonthemon

Hi, I tried compiling a kernel and I got a kernel panic. It said something along the lines of: "Kernel Panic: VFS not able to mount on root '/dev/sda3'"

I have no idea what this means, so I'll post my menu.lst file in the hopes someone does:

```

default 1

timeout 30

splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title Gentoo Linux

   root (hd0,2)

   kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24.3 root=/dev/sda3

title Gentoo Linux (old kernel)

   root (hd0,2)

   kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.19-gentoo-r5 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3  doscsi

   initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.19-gentoo-r5

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic

   root (hd0,0)

   kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=14bff3a0-29d2-4978-acc4-d379230e2b1f ro quiet splash

   initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)

   root (hd0,0)

   kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=14bff3a0-29d2-4978-acc4-d379230e2b1f ro single

   initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+

   root (hd0,0)

   kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin 

```

Help a n00b out. Thanks  :Smile: 

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## barbar

Did you compile support for your filesystem (ext3, reiserfs, ext2, or whatever you use) into your kernel (not as a module) ?

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## poisonthemon

Yup. Compiled it as a temporary kernel with everything compiled into it until I get the wireless drivers installed, even the filesystems I'm sure I don't have (Gentoo is sitting on an ext3 partition)

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## barbar

 *poisonthemon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> ```
> 
> default 1
> ...

 

Maybe a typo ?

try kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24.3 root=/dev/sda3 in grub.conf

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## poisonthemon

No luck, but I also booted it up through QEMU to get the exact error:

VFS: Cannot open root device "sda3" or unknow-block(0,0)

please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:

1600 4194302 hdc driver: ide-cdrom

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

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## barbar

I am rather clueless and running out of ideas what the reason for your problem could be but you can try

```
kernel (hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.24.3 root=/dev/sda3
```

As I read your grub.conf your kernel is on hda3 as is your root partition. You do not have a seperate /boot and / partition?

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## poisonthemon

Still no luck. I'm completely stuck.

I don't recall making a /boot. I'm quite sure it's all on the one partition, unless it installed it to my existing Linux swap.

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## Neo2

Try the real_root option instead of the root one:

```
root (hd0,2)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24.3 real_root=/dev/sda3
```

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## poisonthemon

Nope, that didn't work either. I'll try compiling a different kernel and some other tricks I can find with Google too. Thanks for trying to help

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## barbar

Try booting manually from the grub command line. The command line knows tab completion.

Try 

```
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24.3

boot
```

You can also use the find command to see if your kernel is there.

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## P.Kosunen

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-497930-highlight-.html

I had same problem, PC BIOS (MSDOS partition tables) and SCSI disk/CDROM support was missing in my kernel config.

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