[SWLUG] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(3, 8)

[Julian Hall]

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Neil Greenwood wrote:

> As someone has already said, this looks very much like it's trying
> to resume a suspended session. I'd guess that the partition it's
> trying to resume from is either corrupted or isn't a suspend
> file/partition.
>
> I recently had a similar error message from Ubuntu, when I was
> trying to upgrade from Hoary (5.04) to Breezy (5.10). The only
> difference in my error was the numbers at the end - I had (0,0). I
> found the problem in the Ubuntu forums - the initrd was corrupted.
> The solution in my case (which has taken me over a week to actually
> carry out) was to use a Ubuntu Live CD and chroot into my hard disk
> partition. Then I upgraded the kernel version which created a new
> initrd.
>
>
> I don't know if something like this would work in your case, but I
> had to use the Ubuntu Live CD - tried Knoppix and it wouldn't run
> apt-get after I chrooted, something to do with the way /dev was set
> up. It's quite a nice technique to use to fix a broken install,
> which is why I mentioned it.

Many thanks to all who have replied with suggestions.  Unfortunately
the laptop doesn't have a floppy disk, so I'm wondering if booting
from a USB stick would be a viable option?  Meanwhile I will try to
get into the kernel before LILO tries to load.

Justin asked what program I used to partition the drive.  IIRC I used
Partition Magic 7 when it was empty ans just created all the
partitions I needed for Windows and Linux then installed what I wanted
where I wanted it.

I've also got a Live CD knockign around somewhere.  Not Xandros ut I
don't think that matters, or does it?

I'll report back what happens.

Again thanks to all :)

Kind regards,

Julian
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