Understanding is certainly the beginning of solving problems. I assume that kernel panic indicates that there is something terrible wrong with the computer. But it does not give me more than those well known Windows info's. Reason I want to know is of course that a kernel panic is affecting my computer at startup. After the information that my cdrom drive is configured the kernel panic starts with "VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 16:01" What is VFS? fs? and where is 16:01? If I use the first cd of my Suse 8 I can boot normally if I use the choice to boot an existing system. Why panic in one case and not via the other way to boot? I have already tested my memory with the program supplied with Suse and that program cannot find any problem. When I start using norton utilities, ndiags, I get after a certain period a nicely checkered screen with a lot of blinking squares and ascii signs. What discovers norton which is not found by the Suse memory checker? -- " Every little BYTE helps " NTReader v0.36w(P)/Beta (Registered) in conjunction with Net-Tamer.