[ILUG] VFS : Error mounting root

[Kevin Philp]

I recently decided to try to upgrade a kernel on my home Gentoo box from 2.6.7 
to 2.6.11 and have hit a problem. When I reboot I get:

VFS : Error mounting root....

Googling around I find a load of references to this error but no answer that 
seems applicable and I have tried quite a few of them. What I have tried so 
far:

1.Checked I have compiled the right ext2/3 bits into the kernel - exactly the 
same as my 2.6.7 kernel. 2.6.7 still works and the root partition is ext3 
with xattr on but nothing specific selected.

2. Checked I have the VIA _SATA compiled into the kernel and not as a module - 
its a SATA drive on a VIA motherboard. A grep on the config file for VIA 
shows:

# CONFIG_MVIAC3_2 is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_VIA82CXXX=y
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VIA=y
CONFIG_VIA_RHINE=y
CONFIG_VIA_RHINE_MMIO=y
# CONFIG_VIA_VELOCITY is not set
# CONFIG_AGP_VIA is not set
CONFIG_SND_VIA82XX=y

3. Compiled with and without power managment as one post sugested - no 
difference.

4. Compiled with IDE . A grep on the config for IDE shows.

CONFIG_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y
CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y
CONFIG_IDE_GENERIC=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y
CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y
CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y
CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y

5. Moved my 2.6.7 .config to the 2.6.11 directory and recompiled - same 
problem...as something changed in the kernel? is the drive still at /dev/hde?

Any ideas? Its not crucial as the machine works fine with the 2.6.7 kernel but 
its annoying me.

Kevin.