I ran a shutdown -h now from recovery mode, and now the system boots into
normal mode without errors.
I misspoke - I have grub2. /boot/grub/grub.cfg:
root@hammerhead:/home/mark# cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}
function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
}
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 2de70949-fd34-49d0-98e7-3bcfedff81e8
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
load_video
insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 2de70949-fd34-49d0-98e7-3bcfedff81e8
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-686' --class debian
--class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 2de70949-fd34-49d0-98e7-3bcfedff81e8
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-686 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686
root=UUID=2de70949-fd34-49d0-98e7-3bcfedff81e8 ro quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-686
}
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-686 (recovery mode)'
--class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 2de70949-fd34-49d0-98e7-3bcfedff81e8
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-686 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686
root=UUID=2de70949-fd34-49d0-98e7-3bcfedff81e8 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-686
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type
the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
root@hammerhead:/home/mark#
Thanks for your help!
Mark
On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 2:49 AM, Darac Marjal <mailingl...@darac.org.uk>wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 09:09:03PM -0700, Mark Phillips wrote:
> > Or, do you mean
> >
> > update-initramfs -u
>
> This was the command I was thinking of.
>
> Basically, "unable to mount root fs" usually means that the kernel (in
> conjunction with the initramfs) can't find your root file system. If
> you're using ext2 on a DOS-Partitioned IDE drive, then the kernel should
> be able to do that itself easily enough.
>
> So, other places to look are: Grub (does /boot/grub/menu.lst point to
> the right device. Check the root= parameter. Kernel 2.6.32 should be new
> enough that you want to say "/dev/sda1" rather than "/dev/hda1" EVEN for
> IDE drives), /etc/fstab (Again, either switch to /dev/sdaN or, much
> better, use LABEL=foo or UUID=bar to allow the kernel to find where
> those partitions are. The output of /sbin/blkid will help you determine
> UUIDs).
>
>
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 9:07 PM, Mark Phillips
> > <[1]m...@phillipsmarketing.biz> wrote:
> >
> > Darac,
> >
> > It is a "normal" ext2 file system. A single IDE drive in an old Dell
> > workstation (Optiplex GX260). It has been running for many years
> with
> > successive kernels.
> >
> > Before I screw things up any more, is this what you are recommending
> > that I run from recovery mode?
> >
> > #dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-2.6.32-5-686
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 2:47 AM, Darac Marjal
> > <[2]mailingl...@darac.org.uk> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 08:54:55PM -0700, Mark Phillips wrote:
> > > I ran apt-get update and apt-get upgrade this morning on an
> old
> > server
> > > (Debian Squeeze) and the system won't boot now. I get the
> error
> > >
> > > kernel panic not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on
> unknown
> > > -block(0,0)
> > >
> > > One of the updates was to kernel 2.6.32-5-686. I can boot in
> to
> > safe mode
> > > with this kernel, and the upgrade wiped out the older
> version of
> > the
> > > kernel.
> > >
> > > I have googled for possible solutions, but nothing helpful is
> > popping up.
> > > I am also running grub, and not grub2, but that is OK for
> this
> > kernel
> > > according to [1][3]debian.org.
> > >
> > > Any suggestions on how to proceed?
> >
> > I would suggest that your first port of call is to update the
> > initramfs.
> > You haven't told us what your root filesystem is, though. If it's
> a
> > common filesystem on a regular partition, then you should be
> fine. But
> > if you've got RAID or LVM or anything exotic going on, then try
> adding
> > "rootdelay=30" to the kernel commandline, too.
> >
> > References
> >
> > Visible links
> > 1. mailto:m...@phillipsmarketing.biz
> > 2. mailto:mailingl...@darac.org.uk
> > 3. http://debian.org/
>
