Getting a Kernel Panic: Error, newbie needs some help

[David I. Wright]

I have a Compaq Proliant 2500.  It is a dual Pentium Pro 200 system with 2 
Pentium Pro 200 /512 cache processors and has 512 Meg of memory.  The 
memory is 4 each 128 Meg sticks installed in the 4 memory slots.

When I try to install Fedora by booting up on the first CD and hit enter 
with no options it displays many lines of stuff and then displays a message 
box that says I do not have enough RAM to do the install.  This message box 
has an OK button in it that is highlighted.  If I hit enter the system runs 
a halt system and then reboots.   If I type the following at the command line:
    linux mem=512M

It then displays many lines of stuff with the following being the last four 
lines:

Net4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0
EXT2-fs: unable to read superblock
isofs_read_super: bread failed, dev=09:02 iso_blknum=16, block=32
Kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs on 09:02

I have tried RH 9.0 and Suse 9.0 with the same general results except the 
dev=xx:xx was different for Suse 9.0.

One curios note.  I tried to install Suse 8.0 awhile back and managed to do 
so but it was by accident.  It would not install without some options on 
the command line.  After much searching doc's etc. I found that I could 
disable the probing for USB stuff by using the following on the command line:

   hwprobe=-c03:*:*

It seemed to insist that I had a USB mouse instead of the PS/2 mouse that 
was plugged into the box.  This got me further into the install process but 
would still hang. I then discovered mem=512M option but it only got me a 
little further into the install process where it would also just hang. I 
had given up on this when I started checking some extra memory sticks I had 
in order to identify what size they were.  I removed one of the 128 Meg 
memory sticks and used this memory slot to test a stack of memory sticks I 
had.  One at a time I would check a stick of memory put it in a stack for 
its size and try the next one.   The last one was a 16 Meg or 32 Meg, I 
don't remember, but I went ahead and let it boot with the two options I had 
previously been using trying to install Suse 8.0.  I watch in disbelief as 
it booted up and let me start the install.  I was able to install and use 
the system with Suse 8.0  Of course I tried all this with Fedora, RH9 and 
Suse9 but no luck.

Any suggestions were to look next??  Oh one other thing I did run 3 passes 
of the memory test on the memory install in the system in case that last 
128 Meg memory stick was bad.  I tried the same memory configuration for 
the Fedora, RH9 and Suse9 install but no luck.

Sorry for dragging this out.

Woodchip44