Custom kernel, and always kernel panic :<

[oscar]

Hello everyone.
I'm having a _very_ annoying problem while trying to compile a custom kernel on my laptop - it always ends up with...

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Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root on unknown-block(0,0)

This isn't the first time I've compiled a kernel - I've been doing it several times a month the last 2-3 years, so I think I'm pretty confident with the procedure, what I need in order to make the kernel work, and what I don't need.

But then it comes to debian...
I've never been able to compile my own kernel i debian (well, not a 2.6, I haven't tried any 2.4). EVER. And I can't figure out why.
Everything I need is compiled in the kernel. I've compiled both using the make-kpkg (cd /usr/src/linux ; fakeroot make-kpkg kernel-image) and with the plain old vanilla method. Nothing seems to help.
Is there anything I've missed in debian? Like a brand new "we all hate oscar and his kernels" function?

I'm running debian etch on my laptop, but I've had the same problem while using sarge on it.

[lacek]

If you make your kernel with make-kpkg, you must make an initrd image, since Debian kernels doesn't have much drivers compiled in; the drivers are loaded from the initrd.
So, all you need to do is, after you did a make-kpkg, and installed the resulting package, to run this command:

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mkinitrd -o initrd-(version) (version)

where (version) is the version you gave to the kernel. If you don't remember, or just want to be sure, check /lib/modules. There will be a directory named the version of your new kernel.
After you done, copy the created initrd to /boot, and edit your boot loader's config file to load the initrd with the kernel image. That should do it.