kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

Guys,

Error messages during after upgrading the kernel :

----------
mount: could not find filesystem 'dev/root'

setuproot: moving /dev failed: No such file or directory

setuproot: eroor mounting /proc: No such file or directory

setuproot: eroor mounting /sys: No such file or directory

switchroot: mount failed: No such file or directory

Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
----------

You need to check two important files and these are /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf. The first file tells the system to mount the devices to the corresponding directory and second tells the exact location from which kernel will be booted.

So, as an example grub.conf contains :

-------------
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title CentOS (2.6.18-194.3.1.el5PAE)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.3.1.el5PAE ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-194.3.1.el5PAE.img
title CentOS (2.6.18-164.15.1.el5PAE)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.15.1.el5PAE ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.15.1.el5PAE.img
title CentOS (2.6.18-164.el5PAE)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.el5PAE ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.el5PAE.img
root@server [~]#
-------------

a) The root(hd2,5) is saying Linux where is the boot partition and it means, Third hard disk (the 0 counts and is the first disk) and sixth partition, in that disk. so, it is /dev/sdc6 or /dev/hdc6.
b)The next line is saying where to find the kernel and the root partition.

And in my server /etc/fstab contains :

------------
root@server [~]# cat /etc/fstab
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults,usrquota 1 1
LABEL=/home /home ext3 defaults 1 2
LABEL=/tmp /tmp ext3 defaults 1 2
LABEL=/var /var ext3 defaults,usrquota 1 2
LABEL=/usr /usr ext3 defaults,usrquota 1 2
LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
LABEL=SWAP-sda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
------------

As per the error messages it's clear that file systems has not correctly mounted or entries in that files are wrong. So, you need correct these entries. Please also check following entries in the kernel .config file.

=============
CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED=y
CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED_V2=y
=============


Then restart the server. Hope your basic concept will give you clue :)

Try :)