Problem with "loadlin linux initrd=root.bin", possibly due to LS1

Xenitellis S (S.Xenitellis@rhbnc.ac.uk)
Sun, 17 Oct 1999 01:41:27 +0100

Hello,
I am trying to install Linux over the network, doing
a floppyless installation.
The computer (Celeron 400) has:
1. LS120 drive (IDE device)
2. Hard disk
3. CDROM
An almost similar configuration, but with a *real* floppy drive
and no LS120, works as expected. Thus, I suspect that the LS120
has something to do with it or the absence of a floppy drive.

The procedure to install is:

RedHat 6.1: loadlin vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img
Debian (unstable): loadlin linux root=/dev/ram initrd=root.bin

In both cases, the kernel boots, normal kernel messages appear and
the system freezes with a "kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount fs on 01:00",
which is /dev/ram, the ramdisk.

I assume the "Loadlin" is supposed to put the initrd image into memory
so that the booted kernel can find the installation code to work with.

Kernels tried without success:

Kernel version: 2.2.12 (RH6.1 installation)
Kernel version: 2.0.36 (Debian unstable)
Kernel version: 2.2.6

Kernel messages:
...
hda: WDC ...
hdb: LS-120 VERS 00 UHD Floppy, ATAPI FLOPPY DRIVE
hdc: CDROM ...
ide0: <ok>
ide1: <ok>
floppy0: no floppy controllers found
...
Partition check:
hdb: 123264kB, 963/8/32 CHS, 533 kBps, 512 sector size, 720 rpm
hdb: no media in drive
hda: hda1 hda2 < >
...
[MS-DOS FS Rel: 12 FAT 0, ....]
[me=0x0, cs=0x0, ...<all rest equall to zero>, fc=4294967295]
Transaction block size = 512
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 01:00

[Why would it need to read an MSDOS FS?]
[On certain versions of the kernel, there where no MSDOS FS lines
at the end, probably because there was not FAT support in the kernel]

Thanks in advance,
Simos Xenitellis

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