Bug 256138

Summary:	kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.27-r8 kernel panic AMD64 on VFS with ext3 / partition
Product:	Gentoo Linux	Reporter:	Nick Currier <docfreezzzz>
Component:	[OLD] Core system	Assignee:	Gentoo Linux bug wranglers <bug-wranglers>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	critical
Priority:	High
Version:	unspecified
Hardware:	AMD64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Package list:		Runtime testing required:	---

Description Nick Currier 2009-01-23 23:14:56 UTC

Kernel panic in gentoo-sources 2.6.27-r8 on AMD64 machine.  It appears that the kernel is dying in VFS while trying to mount the root filesystem.  No problems with previously stabilized kernel 2.6.25-r7 but this one won't boot.  Kernel configuration is nothing exotic and ext3 support is built in.  Not exactly sure what to do about this, linux kernel isn't something I tinker with often.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.reboot using new kernel
2.watch error message about unable to mount VFS 
3.

Actual Results:  
Kernel panics without being able to find the root partition (ext3).

Expected Results:  
kernel boots and I can go on with life.. ;)

Using GRUB, root partition ext3, AMD64 X2 machine.

Comment 1 Jeroen Roovers (RETIRED) gentoo-dev

2009-01-24 03:35:37 UTC

Did you perhaps (unwittingly) switch from the deprecated IDE to the PATA driver, or did you not switch at all and simply have no controller configured in the kernel at all?

Comment 2 Nick Currier 2009-01-24 03:45:56 UTC

(In reply to comment #1)

I feel sheepish now that I realize the IDE controller is deprecated. After doing some snooping around, actually just before this posted, I found that the system recognizes my root as /dev/sda3 instead of /dev/hda3... I changed nothing in the kernel configuration.  Is this now default behavior?  i.e. I need to change my /etc/fstab to the new file structure... Sorry for filing a bug report.  I'm conciously trying to become more active in the Gentoo community.  Not trying to create any more work for the bug-wrangling crowd.  I'm just become more development minded due to a recent research position.