ZDM PXE boot error: VFS: Cannot open root device "<NULL>" or unknown-block (8,9)

  • 7000102
  • 16-Apr-2008
  • 29-Apr-2013

Environment

Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management on Linux Support Pack 1 - ZDML7 SP1 Imaging

Situation

ERROR: VFS: Cannot open root device "<NULL>" or unknown-block (8,9).
Error didn't start till after updating to ZDM 7 SP1 IR1 HP2.
Older machines that worked with pre-HP2a PXE boot stopped working.
Using the HP2a bootcd with the older machines worked.
The HP2a PXE boot has erratic bad behavior when the initrd is loading.
HP D530 SFF.

Resolution

To obtain a hot patch with the fix for this problem, follow the instructions in KB 3484245 "Updates to Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management" which can be found at https://www.novell.com/support

Additional Information

The workstations had 256 and 512 MB of RAM. Increasing it to 768 MB stopped the kernel panic.