On 2 Sep, 12:07, Jim Phillips <JPxx...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am bringing up a new Shuttle SN68SCG with an AMD/64/x2 6000 and loading
> it with Debian Etch. The install uses a 2.6.18 kernel and the machine
> works fine. But when I build a new kernel (2.6.22, 2.6.20, and 2.6.18 is
> what I have tried - also with just using the defaults that came with the
> source) after booting into the new kernel the machine hangs with "Waiting
> for root file system" then eventually aborts and drops into the ramfs.
> Some pointer is obviously pointing wrong somewhere.

Is your new kernel a Debian kernel, or a bare one from www.kernel.org?
And did you start from your old .config file?

> After some troubleshooting I found that the problem is caused by having a
> sata drive, rather than a pata with which it works fine. Lots of googling
> shows that this problem goes clear back to kernel number 2.6.16. Fixes
> talk about problems with grub, yaird, mkinitrd, initrd and so forth but so
> far nothing has fixed it.
>
> But, I keep coming back to the fact that the stock kernel with the default
> install of Etch works, so it appears that the problem could be fixed with
> a kernel change, but looking through the menuconfig options nothing
> immediately jumps out. Before I start just hacking on a new kernel,
> anybody got a suggestion(s).

Compare the Debian kernel to the default kernel from www.kernel.org.

> Also, I would like to learn more about the boot process in detail. I have
> the usual books (Mastering this and that, Learn something about Linux in
> 24 minutes, etc) but none go into that kind of detail. Anybody got a good
> website or download that really hits the nuts and bolts? (A 26k rural
> phone line doesn't make for intensive searching).

There are so many, it's hard for me to pick one out. This is
especailly because vendors modify the basic procedures, renaming their
basic configuration files all sorts of strange things in all sorts of
layouts.