Latitude L400 booting problem from HD

[AndreaN]

Hi all,
My little 700 MHz laptop runs great KNOPPIX booting from CD so I'm planning to trash Windows 2000.

Unfortunatly the CD is an external device. So I am tring to install KNOPPIX on its 10Gb hard drive.

The installation looks working fine using "sodo knoppix-installer" however it does not boot.
As I turn on the machine the boot stops with this error:

kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(3,2)

Any tip?

Thank you
Andrea

[ckamin]

So I am tring to install KNOPPIX on its 10Gb hard drive

One thought, Knoppix is basically intended as a "Live" disk distro. It is really not intended to be used as a HDD installed version, although many people do this. There are very mixed results witha HDD install. If you are dead set on installing Knoppix to HDD, you also have a Laptop, which are usually a little more troublesome with Knoppix or Linux in general. Have you looked at alternative distros? Kanotix might be a better choice, Debian works well also, and Suse has a new version that seems rather decent, although it has a different feel than Knoppix or Debian. Fedora Core is another good one. Look at these links for information: www.linux.org and www.distrowatch.com

I am not sure what this error message, that you have encountered, means. I saw something liket his when there was an incorrect reference in Lilo, but do not remember what the fix was. The fix involved editing a few lines in Lilo and I think it had to do with the HDD references. Another one involved Grub and I'm not sure what the fix was there either. Sorry I can't be of more help with this. I don't play with Knoppix HDD installs and don't have a lot of experience there. Maybe someone with a little more expertise can help you with a solution.

Good Luck!

[AndreaN]

Hi,
Looks like the problem is related to 4.0 because using the same steps using 3.9 I sucessfully instaled it on my Laptop.

I will give a shot using Kanotix as you suggested.

I tryed Debian but I had to many issue with the packaging selection and installation.

Thanks again
Andrea