make sure you compiled the kernel with the driver(s) needed to access your hdd, did you see an IDE scan go on during boot?
sample output from a VIA MVP3 based Super Socket 7 board would be: VP_IDE: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 39 VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later ide0: BM-DMA at 0xe000-0xe007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA ide0: VIA Bus-Master (U)DMA Timing Config Success ide1: BM-DMA at 0xe008-0xe00f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA ide1: VIA Bus-Master (U)DMA Timing Config Success hda: IBM-DJNA-370910, ATA DISK drive hdb: IBM-DPTA-353750, ATA DISK drive hdc: CD-ROM CDU4011, ATAPI CDROM drive hdd: MATSHITA CR-588, ATAPI CDROM drive ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15 hda: IBM-DJNA-370910, 8693MB w/1966kB Cache, CHS=1108/255/63 hdb: IBM-DPTA-353750, 35772MB w/1961kB Cache, CHS=4560/255/63 hdc: ATAPI 40X CD-ROM drive, 120kB Cache Uniform CDROM driver Revision: 2.55 hdd: ATAPI 32X CD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache chekc your kernel config, this is likely the problem. nate On Mon, 3 Apr 2000, Kevin wrote: wessam >I decided to compile a new kernel (2.2.1) to upgrade from 2.0.38 for my 486 wessam >(slink) and I followed the instructions in the kernel howto. I compiled and wessam >installed the kernel, ran lilo, and rebooted. I receive the following wessam >error: wessam > wessam >Kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs on 03:01 wessam > wessam >my lilo.conf: wessam >boot=/dev/hda wessam >root=/dev/hda1 wessam >install=/boot/boot.b wessam >map=/boot/map wessam >vga=normal wessam >delay=20 wessam >image=/vmlinuz wessam >label=Linux wessam >read-only wessam > wessam >I have two IDE hard drives with / on hda1. my boot disk works and mounts wessam >root fine. I must've missed some option in the kernel, or is my lilo.conf wessam >is set up wrong? wessam >thanks for any help, wessam >Kevin wessam > wessam > wessam >-- wessam >Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null wessam > ----------------------------------------[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ]-- Vice President Network Operations http://www.firetrail.com/ Firetrail Internet Services Limited http://www.aphroland.org/ Everett, WA 425-348-7336 http://www.linuxpowered.net/ Powered By: http://comedy.aphroland.org/ Debian 2.1 Linux 2.0.36 SMP http://yahoo.aphroland.org/ -----------------------------------------[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ]-- 9:12pm up 7 days, 2:51, 1 user, load average: 0.13, 0.08, 0.08