[Tfug] Debian unable to mount root fs after an update/upgrade

[Glen Pfeiffer]

Hi Everyone,

I recently started up a machine with Debian Etch that I had left
unused for a few months. I performed an update/upgrade with
aptitude (both upgrade and dist-upgrade), and now it won't boot.

While the upgrade was executing, it asked me about replacing my
kernel image (iirc) and said that if I am not 100% sure that I
know what I am doing I should cancel, otherwise my system may not
boot afterward. So I canceled that action, but it continued the
rest of the upgrade without errors.

I have not done anything to troubleshoot, because I have never
encountered a failure to boot like this. Here is the last part of
the boot messages:

RamDisk: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0.
VFS: Cannot open root device "301" or unknown-block(3,1)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option.
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
   unknown-block(3,1)

Relative to you all, I am very new to Linux. I know how to
install and use it, but can't diagnose problems. Heck, my first
reaction was to "re-install", which shows my background in
Windows. Of course I did not re-install yet because I hope to
learn a little about troubleshooting Linux.

So, can anyone help?

--
Thanks!
Glen