I had exactly the same problem... It seems the normal install routine doesn't quite create a working initrd. I needed to boot from the patch CD, load the sata drivers, then use that to boot from my /dev/sda2 partition. After that, I was able to edit /etc/sysconfig/kernel to contain the SATA_VIA line (it HAD 'ATA_VIA' - a typo?) and create a proper initrd. Since I've done that, everything has worked beautifully using the 2.4 kernel. -----Original Message----- From: Stefan Fent [mailto:sf@suse.de] Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 5:09 AM To: depot@xs4all.nl Cc: suse-amd64@suse.com Subject: Re: [suse-amd64] S-ATA trouble. Can't boot installed system * depot@xs4all.nl [040226 18:35]:

Today I spent several hours installing 9.0 for AMD 64 through FTP using the Suse 9.0 patch-boot cd. Not an easy task compared to previous Suse FTP installations I did. Anyway now for the question I have.

My fresh installed systeem hangs at boot. Kernel panic because the root partition SDA5 cannot be mounted. I have a serial ata drive with ext3 hooked on a Via controller on a MSI KT8 NEO board.

I think the problem relates to to the possible absence of the sata_via module/driver during boot.

Besides sata_via you need libata, sd_mod and scsi_mod in your initrd.

Can somebody confirm that initrd needs to contain the sata_via module? How does a 'working' INITRD_MODULES variable in /etc/sysconfig/kernel look?

here is mine: INITRD_MODULES="ext3 sata_via scsi_mod sd_mod libata" (But this should have been done during installation of the package) All of them are required to access the root filesystem which contains the (other) modules

Using the Suse 9.0 patch-boot cd I managed to boot the system.

I tried to make a new initrd with the mkinitrd script. The response was that the dependencies of sata_via couldn't be determined, "maybe modules.dep is out of date". Running depmod -a didn't help me: "/lib/modules/2.4.20-4GB-athlon/modules.dep could'nt be opened for ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ writing". I don't know why. Filesystem is mounted rw.

This is certainly from a 32bit kernel, and rather old as well. What exactly are you doing?

Please help. I am stuck.

Regards, Jeroen Amsterdam

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