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Hi guys,

I encountered the following error while booting up a linux system:

Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:01

The system simply stalls.

What can I do to rectify the problem? What causes the problem?
Do I have to format the system?

Please advise.

Thanks

On 01/07/06 09:53, Steven wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I encountered the following error while booting up a linux system:
>
> Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:01
>
> The system simply stalls.
>
> What can I do to rectify the problem? What causes the problem?
> Do I have to format the system?
>
> Please advise.

This usually happens when the file system driver is not part of the
kernel.

Ciao
Giovanni
--
A computer is like an air conditioner,
it stops working when you open Windows.
Registered Linux user #337974 <http://counter.li.org/>

Giovanni wrote:

> On 01/07/06 09:53, Steven wrote:
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> I encountered the following error while booting up a linux system:
>>
>> Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:01
>>
>> The system simply stalls.
>>
>> What can I do to rectify the problem? What causes the problem?
>> Do I have to format the system?
>>
>> Please advise.
>
> This usually happens when the file system driver is not part of the
> kernel.
>
> Ciao
> Giovanni


I would agree with Giovanni. This usually happens when you do not have the
filesystem you have your drive formatted as as part of your kernel. If you
are loading as a module you will have to make it part of your initrd so
that the fs driver is loaded before it tries to mount the fs in question.

Gecko

On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 09:26:24 -0500, Jason Hoss wrote:

>>> Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:01

>>> The system simply stalls.

>> This usually happens when the file system driver is not part of the
>> kernel.

> I would agree with Giovanni. This usually happens when you do not have
> the filesystem you have your drive formatted as as part of your kernel.
> If you are loading as a module you will have to make it part of your
> initrd so that the fs driver is loaded before it tries to mount the fs in
> question.

Actually this can happen for a number of reasons. In essence it means -
The bootloader can't find a root partition where it was directed to
either in lilo.conf, fstab, by a mangled lilo installation or no file
system support exists, (I'd think making your root file system
support *in* the kernel, rather than as a module, is essential, IMO).

The cure is always find a way to boot, chroot and fix the error.

Reinstall or reformat is what winders users do. I've botched the MBR,
and the partition table both and still was able to recover my root in
perfect shape.

i would boot up with a live CD like slax or knoppix and look around in
your root disk partition, look at /etc/fstab and /etc/liliconfig for
any errors, next unmount the root disk partition then see if fsck finds
any errors, do this before re-installing as there is a chance you can
fix what you have...

also if a live CD wont mount it then just see of fsck tells you
anything...

Ok.

It seems that fsck doesnt really solve the problem. Weird kernel errors
may pop up upon bootup.

I've tried popping in SLAX live cd. But oftenly, even SLAX can fail to
boot up the system with weird init errors.

I realised it would be a problem with my ram.

I removed one stick of ram from my system. That solved the problem. I
can boot up with no issues.

That stick of removed ram is higly suspicious. Im wondering are there
any ram testing tool in linux

Okay.

The system is behaving strangely. Sometimes upon boot, it will hit the
error i said earlier. Sometimes it will hit with Kernel panic: Unable
to handle interrupt or similiar.

What I did was to get a copy of SLAX, boot up the system using SLAX,
unmount the problematic partition which contains linux, did a #e2fsck
-f

After the checking was done, the system is able to boot normally.

I wonder whether did I correectly use e2fsck or was it pure luck?

> That stick of removed ram is higly suspicious. Im wondering are there
> any ram testing tool in linux

memtest.org, it works from a bootable floppy or CD (it can run from
Linux because of the vrtual memory support in the OS).

If you have a Ubuntu CD it already has an option to start memtest when
booting from the CD.

On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 23:50:33 -0800, Steven wrote:

> I realised it would be a problem with my ram.
>
> I removed one stick of ram from my system. That solved the problem. I can
> boot up with no issues.

> That stick of removed ram is higly suspicious. Im wondering are there any
> ram testing tool in linux

Good detective work.

To be sure about that stick of RAM pull the good one and try the
suspicious one in the same slot.

I've had defective slots on mobos before.

If the suspicious one is OK in another slot then the slot you pulled
it from is bad or it wasn't seated properly.

In article <1136793032.952447.77370@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups. com>,
stevong@gmail.com says...
: Ok.
:
: It seems that fsck doesnt really solve the problem. Weird kernel errors
: may pop up upon bootup.
:
: I've tried popping in SLAX live cd. But oftenly, even SLAX can fail to
: boot up the system with weird init errors.
:
: I realised it would be a problem with my ram.
:
: I removed one stick of ram from my system. That solved the problem. I
: can boot up with no issues.
:
: That stick of removed ram is higly suspicious. Im wondering are there
: any ram testing tool in linux
:
:

The *best* name brand ram is "none too good". (Sage advice from an old
computer builder I used to know). Another piece of good advice is
invest in a quality power supply (most are junk). Good memory and a
good power supply means 99% of problems never happen.