title: Why is the linux kernel panicking?
body: <p>I have downloaded the source of linux kernel 2.6 and built it with the default configuration. I am testing it on qemu-system-x86_64 with the following command :- </p>
  
  <pre><code>qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1024 -smp 4 -kernel arch/x86/boot/bzImage -initrd initramfs.gz -append "rdinit=/ root=/dev/ram" -serial stdio -append "root=/dev/ram0 console=ttyAMA0  console=ttyS0" 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and, it is showing the following error when it tries to boot :- </p>
  
  <pre><code>     end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)  
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>with the stack trace being the following :- </p>
  
  <pre><code>9.187305] Call Trace:
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff81ef0503&gt;] mount_block_root+0x190/0x224
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff81ef0688&gt;] mount_root+0xf1/0xfc
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff81ef07d0&gt;] prepare_namespace+0x13d/0x176
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff81ef022a&gt;] kernel_init_freeable+0x1e2/0x1f2
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff81eef8f3&gt;] ? initcall_blacklist+0xad/0xad
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff818098d0&gt;] ? rest_init+0x80/0x80
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff818098d9&gt;] kernel_init+0x9/0xf0
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff81819dac&gt;] ret_from_fork+0x7c/0xb0
  [    9.187305]  [&lt;ffffffff818098d0&gt;] ? rest_init+0x80/0x80
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have been searching more about this error but, am not able to identify the cause of this error.
  Can anybody please explain it to me why am I getting this error ? How can I resolve it ?  </p>
  
  <p>Please bear in mind that I have just started kernel development and still a noob in this area.          </p>