# [solved] yet another VFS: Cannot open root device "sda3"

## huuan

oK so I'm getting kernel panic with VFS  Cannot open root device "sda3" or unknown-block(0,0) 

I've read and tried all the stickies and especially the advice given here https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-497930.html

but I can't get this box to reboot after recompiling the kernel.

it's a dell poweredge 840 with dual pentium d cpu, hardware raid 1 (2x80G hdd) using a SAS5ir controller and 2G ram

I was attempting to get 2.6.18-hardened up[ and running.

as well as compiling into the system at various times every sata and scsi driver I've also tried the LABEL the drivews method, and also building both genkernel and 2.6.19 from gentoo-sources.

All without success.

Here's the files you need to diagnose:

.config

#

# Block devices

#

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_CPQ_DA is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_CPQ_CISS_DA is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_DAC960 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_COW_COMMON is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CRYPTOLOOP is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SX8=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UB is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD is not set

# CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD is not set

# CONFIG_ATA_OVER_ETH is not set

#

# ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support

#

CONFIG_IDE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y

#

# Please see Documentation/ide.txt for help/info on IDE drives

#

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_SATA is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD_IDE is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y

CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECS is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDETAPE is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEFLOPPY is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI is not set

# CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL is not set

#

# IDE chipset support/bugfixes

#

CONFIG_IDE_GENERIC=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD640 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPNP is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y

CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_OFFBOARD is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_GENERIC=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_OPTI621 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RZ1000 is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_FORCED is not set

CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y

# CONFIG_IDEDMA_ONLYDISK is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_AEC62XX is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ALI15X3 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_AMD74XX is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ATIIXP is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD64X is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_TRIFLEX is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CY82C693 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CS5520 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CS5530 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CS5535 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HPT34X is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HPT366 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SC1200 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PIIX is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IT821X is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NS87415 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PDC202XX_OLD is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PDC202XX_NEW is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SVWKS is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SIIMAGE is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SIS5513 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SLC90E66 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_TRM290 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_VIA82CXXX is not set

# CONFIG_IDE_ARM is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y

# CONFIG_IDEDMA_IVB is not set

CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD is not set

#

# SCSI device support

#

# CONFIG_RAID_ATTRS is not set

CONFIG_SCSI=y

CONFIG_SCSI_PROC_FS=y

#

# SCSI support type (disk, tape, CD-ROM)

#

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y

# CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST is not set

# CONFIG_CHR_DEV_OSST is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR_VENDOR=y

CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=y

# CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SCH is not set

#

# Some SCSI devices (e.g. CD jukebox) support multiple LUNs

#

# CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_CONSTANTS is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_LOGGING is not set

#

# SCSI Transport Attributes

#

CONFIG_SCSI_SPI_ATTRS=y

CONFIG_SCSI_FC_ATTRS=y

CONFIG_SCSI_ISCSI_ATTRS=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SAS_ATTRS=y

#

# SCSI low-level drivers

#

# CONFIG_ISCSI_TCP is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_3W_XXXX_RAID is not set

CONFIG_SCSI_3W_9XXX=y

CONFIG_SCSI_ACARD=y

# CONFIG_SCSI_AACRAID is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_AIC7XXX is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_AIC7XXX_OLD is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_AIC79XX is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_DPT_I2O is not set

CONFIG_SCSI_ADVANSYS=y

CONFIG_MEGARAID_NEWGEN=y

CONFIG_MEGARAID_MM=y

CONFIG_MEGARAID_MAILBOX=y

CONFIG_MEGARAID_LEGACY=y

CONFIG_MEGARAID_SAS=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_AHCI=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SVW=y

CONFIG_SCSI_ATA_PIIX=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_MV=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_NV=y

CONFIG_SCSI_PDC_ADMA=y

# CONFIG_SCSI_HPTIOP is not set

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_QSTOR=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_PROMISE=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SX4=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL24=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIS=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_ULI=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VIA=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VITESSE=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_INTEL_COMBINED=y

CONFIG_SCSI_BUSLOGIC=y

# CONFIG_SCSI_OMIT_FLASHPOINT is not set

CONFIG_SCSI_DMX3191D=y

CONFIG_SCSI_EATA=y

# CONFIG_SCSI_EATA_TAGGED_QUEUE is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_EATA_LINKED_COMMANDS is not set

CONFIG_SCSI_EATA_MAX_TAGS=16

# CONFIG_SCSI_FUTURE_DOMAIN is not set

CONFIG_SCSI_GDTH=y

# CONFIG_SCSI_IPS is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_INITIO is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_INIA100 is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C8XX_2 is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_IPR is not set

CONFIG_SCSI_QLOGIC_1280=y

# CONFIG_SCSI_QLA_FC is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_LPFC is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_DC395x is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_DC390T is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_NSP32 is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_DEBUG is not set

#

# File systems

#

CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_SECURITY=y

# CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XIP is not set

CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS_SECURITY=y

CONFIG_JBD=y

# CONFIG_JBD_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_FS_MBCACHE=y

# CONFIG_REISERFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_JFS_FS is not set

CONFIG_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

# CONFIG_XFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_OCFS2_FS is not set

# CONFIG_MINIX_FS is not set

# CONFIG_ROMFS_FS is not set

CONFIG_INOTIFY=y

CONFIG_INOTIFY_USER=y

# CONFIG_QUOTA is not set

CONFIG_DNOTIFY=y

# CONFIG_AUTOFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_AUTOFS4_FS is not set

# CONFIG_FUSE_FS is not set

#

# CD-ROM/DVD Filesystems

#

CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y

CONFIG_JOLIET=y

CONFIG_ZISOFS=y

CONFIG_ZISOFS_FS=y

CONFIG_UDF_FS=y

CONFIG_UDF_NLS=y

#

# DOS/FAT/NT Filesystems

#

CONFIG_FAT_FS=y

CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=y

# CONFIG_VFAT_FS is not set

CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_CODEPAGE=437

CONFIG_NTFS_FS=y

# CONFIG_NTFS_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_NTFS_RW=y

#

# Pseudo filesystems

#

CONFIG_PROC_FS=y

CONFIG_PROC_KCORE=y

CONFIG_SYSFS=y

CONFIG_TMPFS=y

# CONFIG_HUGETLBFS is not set

# CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE is not set

CONFIG_RAMFS=y

# CONFIG_CONFIGFS_FS is not set

#

# Miscellaneous filesystems

#

# CONFIG_ADFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_AFFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_HFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_HFSPLUS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_BEFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_BFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_EFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_CRAMFS is not set

CONFIG_SQUASHFS=y

# CONFIG_SQUASHFS_EMBEDDED is not set

CONFIG_SQUASHFS_FRAGMENT_CACHE_SIZE=3

# CONFIG_SQUASHFS_VMALLOC is not set

# CONFIG_VXFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_HPFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_QNX4FS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_SYSV_FS is not set

# CONFIG_UFS_FS is not set

#

# Network File Systems

#

CONFIG_NFS_FS=y

CONFIG_NFS_V3=y

# CONFIG_NFS_V3_ACL is not set

# CONFIG_NFS_V4 is not set

# CONFIG_NFS_DIRECTIO is not set

# CONFIG_NFSD is not set

CONFIG_LOCKD=y

CONFIG_LOCKD_V4=y

CONFIG_NFS_COMMON=y

CONFIG_SUNRPC=y

# CONFIG_RPCSEC_GSS_KRB5 is not set

# CONFIG_RPCSEC_GSS_SPKM3 is not set

# CONFIG_SMB_FS is not set

CONFIG_CIFS=y

# CONFIG_CIFS_STATS is not set

# CONFIG_CIFS_WEAK_PW_HASH is not set

CONFIG_CIFS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_CIFS_POSIX=y

# CONFIG_CIFS_DEBUG2 is not set

# CONFIG_CIFS_EXPERIMENTAL is not set

# CONFIG_NCP_FS is not set

# CONFIG_CODA_FS is not set

# CONFIG_AFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_9P_FS is not set

#

# Partition Types

#

CONFIG_PARTITION_ADVANCED=y

# CONFIG_ACORN_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_OSF_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_AMIGA_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_ATARI_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_MAC_PARTITION is not set

CONFIG_MSDOS_PARTITION=y

# CONFIG_BSD_DISKLABEL is not set

# CONFIG_MINIX_SUBPARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_SOLARIS_X86_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_UNIXWARE_DISKLABEL is not set

# CONFIG_LDM_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_SGI_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_ULTRIX_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_SUN_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_KARMA_PARTITION is not set

# CONFIG_EFI_PARTITION is not set

--------------------------

lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation E7230 Memory Controller Hub

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation E7230 PCI Express Root Port

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 01)

00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 01)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 01)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 01)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 01)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)

01:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6702PXH PCI Express-to-PCI Bridge A (rev 09)

01:00.1 PIC: Intel Corporation 6700/6702PXH I/OxAPIC Interrupt Controller A (rev 09)

02:08.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS1068 PCI-X Fusion-MPT SAS (rev 01)

03:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6702PXH PCI Express-to-PCI Bridge A (rev 09)

05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5721 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 11)

07:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc ES1000 (rev 02)

----------------

/etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.

# <fs>			<mountpoint>	<type>		<opts>		<dump/pass>

/dev/sda1		/boot		ext2		noauto,noatime	1 2

/dev/sda2		none		swap		sw		0 0

/dev/sda3		/		ext3		noatime		0 1

/dev/sda5		/var		ext3		noatime		0 1

/dev/cdroms/cdrom0	/mnt/cdrom	iso9660		noauto,ro	0 0

proc			/proc		proc		defaults	0 0

shm			/dev/shm	tmpfs		nodev,nosuid,noexec	0 0

---------------

grub.conf

timeout 5

default 0

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.18-hardened

root (hd0,0)

kernel /kernel-2.6.18-hardened  root=/dev/sda3

Hope that's enough to see what I've missed. The live cd can mount the disks so I must have overlooked something real simple.

Thanks for your help.Last edited by huuan on Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:57 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## wynn

I think the driver you need for your "02:08.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS1068 PCI-X Fusion-MPT SAS (rev 01)" is enabled as

```
Device Drivers --->

  Fusion MPT device support  --->

     <*> Fusion MPT ScsiHost drivers for SAS
```

if this has your root partition on it you will need it builtin, not as a module.

----------

## huuan

 *wynn wrote:*   

> I think the driver you need for your "02:08.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS1068 PCI-X Fusion-MPT SAS (rev 01)" is enabled as
> 
> ```
> Device Drivers --->
> 
> ...

 

You rule!    :Cool:   It works!

I don't think I would ever have found that, I wasn't looking at that level and had no clue that it was 'Fusion MPT' even though with 20-20 hindsight I see that's in the name, I was looking for LSI drivers ... 

Thanks.   :Very Happy:   :Laughing: 

----------

## wynn

The method comes from Greg Kroah-Hartman's "Linux Kernel in a Nutshell" (in portage as app-doc/linux-kernel-in-a-nutshell and in "Configuring the kernel to support a new item of hardware" in Updating KC11 â kernel compiling for the beginner).

Worked examples in KC11 and [SOLVED]Kernel-2.6.20: What is the best settings for GA-DS4

----------

## huuan

Thanks Wynn. I especially like the method of finding where the setting is in menuconfig which is otherwise non-trivial.

When I finish configuring this system (might be several days as i've been called away elsewhere)  I will post the setup in answer to my own currently unanswered question here about setting up these boxes, along with links to the source of the info such as the links you just presented.

Then others can find it when searching

 :Very Happy: 

----------

## nessus11

 *wynn wrote:*   

> I think the driver you need for your "02:08.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS1068 PCI-X Fusion-MPT SAS (rev 01)" is enabled as
> 
> ```
> Device Drivers --->
> 
> ...

 

You are a Jedi Gentoo master Wynn!  Thanks a bunch.

----------

