I want to install the latest 2.4.14 kernel in my system.

I've built it with the drivers I think I need, done a mkinitrd to create the proper .img file in the /boot directory, but it refuses the mount the root fs upon boot, giving me a kernel panic. It's pointed at the same root partition that the other kernel boots from just fine.

When editing /etc/grub.conf, I follow the directions by copying the prior kernel's settings over then updating them with the proper file names.

I imagine some driver is missing, but even with devfs compiled in it doesn't work. I see no option in the kernel for ext3fs, but from what I've read wouldn't ext2fs simply start up the file system without the journaling capabilities?

Any ideas where to get the files I need, or what to change?

One thing you might want to check is that you have the correct drivers needed for your hard drives/controllers included in the kernel, instead of being loaded as modules.

I just went through the same problem. In my case, I have a megaraid controller, with the AIC-7899 SCSI controllers for the SCSI hard drives. I had mistakenly configured those to be loadable modules. When it tried to load the modules, it couldn't access the hard drives to read them, hence the kernel panic.

I edited the .config file, changed the =m to =y in the appropriate places, and recompiled. Now everything is honky-dory. I discovered the difference by comparing an old .config file to the new one I had created with the new kernel. It was a pain in the butt comparing them, but well worth it in the end.

I hope that helps.

Sully

Yes, time does march on. 2.4.15 includes the ext3 code that should solve this problem, but it does not. Still the kernel panic, unable to mount root at boot time when selecting the 2.4.15 kernel, even with the initrd image file made and ext3 compiled into the kernel.

What other tweak is redhat doing with its RPM kernels?

I don't follow this completely but my take is that your fs driver has to be a module so it can be included in the initrd so the initrd can read the filesystem the kernel is written on.

For Mandrake, in /boot, there is a file called config-(version) for every installed kernel. I have not done exactly this but, if you have that file, it seems like it would be safer to use that for your .config/make oldconfig and just change a few things at a time.

You have to enable "experimental code" in the config to get ext3..and its a good idea to patch 2.4.15 to 2.4.16-pre1 because of a bug.

The kernel is configured with experimental options on, and I've tried ext3 as a module and compiled into the kernel itself. Same result.

Thanks for the heads up to use .16 instead. I've done so, but still haven't figured out the changes required. Anyone else with ideas about using 2.4.16 in a redhat 7.2 box with 2.4.9 RPMs in it?