Re: [gentoo-user] kernel panic - lilo can't find boot

[Wols Lists]

On 24/07/2022 12:01, Walter Dnes wrote:
>    I'm trying to revive an older Lenovo.  It has worked in the past.
> Here is the kernel panic error (3 lines)...
>
> VFS: Cannot open device "801" or unknown-block (8,1): error -6
> Please append a correct "root=" boot option: here are the available partitions:
> Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root on unknown-block (8,1)
>
>    I've pulled in a working configuration from an old backup, so it
> should work.  I'm also listing "fdisk -l", "ll /boot", and
> /etc/lilo.conf  (the machine is too old for UEFI).  Any ideas?
>
Dunno about modern lilo, and I get the impression from what you're 
saying that the kernel may have loaded but be crashing looking for root?

But my memories of lilo was it was very important you had to re-run it 
every time you changed kernel, because it didn't know where the kernel 
was by path, it coded the actual lba reference into the boot code.

So that might mean, if the kernel has been upgraded, an old boot config 
might not work.

I know older SUSE install media had "boot system on disk" as one of 
their options - might that work if you can boot from CD-Rom or USB?

Cheers,
Wol