From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Tejun Heo Subject: Re: totally random "VFS: Cannot open root device" Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 13:35:37 +0900 Message-ID: <438D2C19.3030008@gmail.com> References: <438B6E05.8070009@eq.cz> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-2; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: In-Reply-To: <438B6E05.8070009@eq.cz> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org To: "0602@eq.cz" <0602@eq.cz> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Linux-ide List-Id: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org 0602@eq.cz wrote: > Hi! > > (Please CC me your answers as I am not subscribed.) > > I have a problem with 2.6.14.3 kernel (but this probably isn't too > version-specific). I have a kernel which succesfully boots on totally > random basis (cca 70% is success). My root partition resides on a SATA > disc connected to a controller on Intel 6300ESB ICH southbridge (mb > Intel se7320vp2). There is a reiserfs 3 filesystem on my root partition. > Without any changes to configuration (os or bios or whatever) I > sometimes get: > > VFS: Cannot open root device "801" or unknown block(8,1) > > Could this be some timeout issue, or indication of crappy hw? I've tried > this about 10 times (immediately ctrl+alt+del on successfull boot or > reset button on aforementioned panic) and I saw no regularities in this > misbehaviour. > > I sincerely appreciate any advice anyone can give. > [CC'ing linux-ide] Hello, 0602. :-) Can you please post dmesg of a successful booting? That will tell us which SATA controller/disks you are using. Also, the boot log of a failed boot will be very helpful - the best way to get this is via serial console. If you don't have access to serial console, taking note / picture of the part where SATA detection fails will do too. Also, when the machine boots successfully, does it work without generating disk related kernel logs? Just perform any IO-heavy operations - cp'ing directories which contain large files, tar/untarring... - and see if the kernel complains about anyting. -- tejun