kernel panic on boot

[Tim Seufert]

On Wednesday, August 20, 2003, at 04:02  PM, Shawn Protsman wrote:
>> I just reformatted my YD 2.3 installation and installed 3.0.  After 
>> installation has completed and the computer is rebooted I get the 
>> following:
>>
>> VFS: Cannot open root device "sdb6" or 08:16
>> Please append a correct "root=" boot option
>> Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 08:16
> Is there anyone who can help?  I have reinstalled YD 3 about 5 times 
> now and the result is the same.  I have switched the scsi drives so 
> that I'm booting OS 9 from sdb and YD from sda now.  Still can't get 
> past the kernel panic.

You need to set the root device correctly in your bootloader.  The 
panic is telling you that the kernel couldn't find a valid root 
partition to boot from at sdb6 (6th partition of SCSI device sdb), 
which is what you currently have the bootloader set to.

BTW, the bootstrap partition thing applies only to New World Macs (ones 
with built-in USB) when using the yaboot bootloader.  They aren't used 
on older Macs like yours, which need to use either BootX or quik 
instead of yaboot.  (You should probably use BootX.)