Re: PROBLEM: Kernel 6.8.x: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) – SATA (Intel AHCI) not detected

[Niklas Cassel <cassel@kernel.org>]

On Fri, Oct 09, 2026 at 09:33:42AM +0200, Damien Le Moal wrote:
> On 2026/10/07 14:40, Hans-Joachim Lange wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I am experiencing a regression: kernel 5.15.x boots fine, but 6.8.x
> > fails with "Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs
> > on unknown-block(0,0)". The SATA controller (Intel, rev 06) is not
> > detected; /dev/sda never appears. The ahci module is present in the
> > initramfs but does not load.
> > 
> > [1.] One line summary:
> >      Kernel 6.8.x fails to detect Intel SATA AHCI controller; /dev/sda 
> > not created.
> 
> Please try again with at least the latest stable kernel, or ideally the latest
> mainline kernel (7.3-rc6 as of this week). And also please try to capture the
> boot messages with the bad kernel. Hard to say what's happening without that.
> You can use network console or simply a video/pictures of the screen where we
> can see the ata messages.

You can also add rdinit=/bin/sh to the kernel command line
to get a shell.

Then you can do:
$ lspci

to see if the AHCI controller is there.

to see which modules are loaded.

You can then try to modprobe ahci to see
if your drives are detected.


In most of these cases, you are simply missing the required
filesystem (or similar) modules in your initramfs.


Kind regards,
Niklas