debian etch booting kernel 2.6.20-rc6

[Hidde]

Yesterday I compiled my own kernel, by using the instructions from this howto (http://www.howtoforge.com/kernel_compilation_debian_p2) by falko.
The compilation and installation went fine, but for some reason I can't boot into it. It probably has something to do with the fact that my sata disk are seen as scsi disk by linux, because before I get a kernel panic, the kernel is waiting for sda and sda2 (root) to show up. I wish I could post te complete error, but I can't seem to find it in the /var/log files.
Ofcourse I already tried google, but there are only a few hits, and they are all about virtualization with Xen. I hope someone can point my in the good direction, because I'm out of ideas.
Maybe you'd like some more info about my hardware: I've got only one sata disk that is connected to a motherboard with some RAID functions, but as far as i know it just works as JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks). It probably isn't even connected to a RAID supporting connector.

Edit:
This is my menu.lst :
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.20-rc6-default3
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.20-rc6-default3 root=/dev/sda2 ro
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.20-rc6-default3
savedefault

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.20-rc6-default3 (single-user mode)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.20-rc6-default3 root=/dev/sda2 ro single
initrd /intird.img-2.6.20-rc6-default3
savedefault

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-3-amd64
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-amd64 root=/dev/sda2 ro
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.18-3-amd64
savedefault

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-3-amd64 (single-user mode)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-amd64 root=/dev/sda2 ro single
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.18-3-amd64
savedefault

[falko]

I guess some module is missing in your initrd.img-2.6.20-rc6-default3. Did you compile your kernel with SATA support?

[Hidde]

Well, I'm not sure, but I think I did. I took the config file from my working stock kernel, And the only thing I changed is adding support for KVM. I'll check for SATA support in the morning. And I'll try google for those modules in initrd.
This afternoon I realized that my error is probably simular as the one in your howto. But I'm really sure "Fusion MPT device support" is compiled into my kernel.

[falko]

This afternoon I realized that my error is probably simular as the one in your howto. But I'm really sure "Fusion MPT device support" is compiled into my kernel.
You can check that in the kernel's config file in /boot.

[Hidde]

config-2.6.20-rc6-default3:

#
# Fusion MPT device support
#
CONFIG_FUSION=y
CONFIG_FUSION_SPI=m
CONFIG_FUSION_FC=m
CONFIG_FUSION_SAS=m
CONFIG_FUSION_MAX_SGE=40
CONFIG_FUSION_CTL=m
CONFIG_FUSION_LAN=m

The only match for SATA in this file is:
#
# Please see Documentation/ide.txt for help/info on IDE drives
#
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_SATA is not set

So, I guess I have to recompile my kernel with SATA support?

[Hidde]

In the config file for my working stock kernel I also found this line when searching voor SATA:

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_AHCI=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SVW=m
CONFIG_SCSI_ATA_PIIX=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_MV=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_NV=m
CONFIG_SCSI_PDC_ADMA=m
CONFIG_SCSI_HPTIOP=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_QSTOR=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_PROMISE=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SX4=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL24=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIS=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_ULI=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VIA=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VITESSE=m

I guess this is why my kernel isn't working, but why wasn't it enabled when I compiled it? I know for sure that I loaded this config file in menuconfig.

[falko]

In the config file for my working stock kernel I also found this line when searching voor SATA:

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_AHCI=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SVW=m
CONFIG_SCSI_ATA_PIIX=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_MV=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_NV=m
CONFIG_SCSI_PDC_ADMA=m
CONFIG_SCSI_HPTIOP=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_QSTOR=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_PROMISE=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SX4=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL24=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIS=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_ULI=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VIA=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VITESSE=m

I guess this is why my kernel isn't working, but why wasn't it enabled when I compiled it? I know for sure that I loaded this config file in menuconfig.Maybe these options have been replaced in newer kernels?

[olshevch]

I had the same problem, when I compiled kernels with Debian stock configuration.
The problem waas solved, when I compiled with command:
make-kpkg --initrd kernel_image
in kernel source root directory, and installed with command:
dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.20-10.0.Custom-amd64.deb
(I compiled on amd64 system.)