[gentoo-user] Re: Grub heartbreaker

Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com> writes:

> Aaaaaaaaaah, now I see. It's one of two things, and neither is your
> grub.conf. That's the kernel spitting that garbage at you, so your
> grub.conf is just fine. You have either:
>
> 1. Compiled in the need for an initrd and have not supplied one, or
> 2. (more likely) you do not have support for your chipset, ata and/or
> root filesystem compiled into the kernel (NOT as modules). "VFS: Unable
> to mount root fs" is almost invariable due to this
>
> Do you want to use an initrd, or due the highly customized thing and
> dispense with it?

OK, let me explain a bit.  I started compiling a kernel for this
install and somehow missed something important for filesystems.  (I
don't remember what now) during make menuconfig.

Rather than keep plugging away with menuconfig I ran `genkernel all'
which I have done many times.  It always produces an intramfs but I
have simpley ignored and deleted from /boot.  Went ahead with the 
very same grub.conf as posted in this thread. (With different
devices), and never had any trouble with the kernel demanding an
intramfs.   My take was that if you don't tell the OS to use an
intramfs in grub.conf then it doesn't... no harm no foul.

So maybe in version 2008.1 when one uses `genkernel all' something is
compiled into the kernel causing it to `need' an intramfs.  If that
is the case it will be a new phenomena since I have, as stated, used
genkernel and ignored the resulting initramfs many times.

I guess a simple test would be to insert the intramfs options and see
if it works.

If so then I will redo the kernel with makemenuconfig and eventually
get a working kernel with no initramfs baloney.

> Reader, do you have an XP machine with VMWare where you could copy
> through
> vmware gust over to and try? If that succeeds I'd have to conclude
> it's
> YANVO (yet another nefarious vista obstruction)

I do and was hoping to avoid that very thing.. I too thought of that.
I can do it but it will mean horsing several GB across the network
then monkeying around with changed udev stuff that inevitably occurs
when you move a VM install.  Then back across the network and more
udev stuff...  I think I remember how to get by that but would rather
solve it in place.

For now I guess I'll test and see if adding initramfs to grub.conf works.

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