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diff --git a/content/html/rootfs-unknownXY.html b/content/html/rootfs-unknownXY.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d7c52b --- /dev/null +++ b/content/html/rootfs-unknownXY.html @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ +<?xml version="1.0"?> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(X,Y)</title><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/><link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/><style type="text/css"/></head><body><h1>Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(X,Y)</h1> + +<p xmlns=""><b>Maintainers:</b> + swift +</p> +<p xmlns=""><b>Keywords:</b> + boot + kernel + kernel panic +</p> +<h2 xmlns="">Synopsis</h2> + +<p xmlns=""> +When you boot up your Gentoo system, you receive the following error before you +receive the Gentoo-specific start-up: +</p> + +<pre xmlns=""> +VFS: Cannot open root device "hda3" or unknow-block(8,3) +Please append a correct "root=" boot option +Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,3) +</pre> + +<p xmlns=""> +The numbers in the unknown-block(X,Y) can be different; the X-value is non-zero. +</p> + + +<h2 xmlns="">Environment</h2> + +<p xmlns=""> +This occurs when booting a new kernel or after a change in the bootloader +configuration. +</p> + + +<h2 xmlns="">Analysis</h2> + +<p xmlns=""> +When the Linux kernel has been booted and finished all its initial +configuration, it tries to mount the root filesystem. It uses the root boot +parameter to find out what the root filesystem is: +</p> + +<pre xmlns=""> +(Example from a grub.conf): +kernel /kernel-2.6.10-gentoo-r5 root=/dev/hda3 +</pre> + +<p xmlns=""> +As the Linux kernel doesn't understand a string like "/dev/hda3" it translates +it to a set of numbers, called a major and minor number. In this error, the +major and minor are known. This occurs when the kernel has succesfully detected +the hardware but is not able to understand the file system that it found on it. +</p> + +<p xmlns=""> +In other words, the kernel does not have support for the file system on it +built-in. +</p> + + +<h2 xmlns="">Solution</h2> + +<p xmlns=""> +There are four possible reasons for this issue to occur: you did not select the +correct file system support when configuring the kernel, the support for the +file system is built as a module and you are not using an initial root device, +the file system is corrupted and does not identify itself as that particular +file system anymore, or there is no file system on it. +</p> + +<p xmlns=""> +Make sure that your kernel configuration has support for the correct file +system and that it is built in the kernel, not as a module. +Otherwise your kernel would need to be able to mount the disk to find the module +to ... mount the disk. +</p> + +<p xmlns=""> +Also, verify if the root parameter you've set is indeed pointing to the right +partition. If that fails too, see if you can mount this partition from a rescue +CD. +</p> + + +</body></html> |