diff -u -U 5 -r --new-file -x *~ -x *.[oa] linux-2.4.26.orig/init/do_mounts.c linux-2.4.26/init/do_mounts.c
--- linux-2.4.26.orig/init/do_mounts.c	Fri Nov 28 19:26:21 2003
+++ linux-2.4.26/init/do_mounts.c	Fri Apr 23 15:34:27 2004
@@ -346,10 +346,11 @@
 }
 static void __init mount_block_root(char *name, int flags)
 {
 	char *fs_names = __getname();
 	char *p;
+	int retries = 0;
 
 	get_fs_names(fs_names);
 retry:
 	for (p = fs_names; *p; p += strlen(p)+1) {
 		int err = sys_mount(name, "/root", p, flags, root_mount_data);
@@ -368,12 +369,20 @@
 		 * and bad superblock on root device.
 		 */
 		printk ("VFS: Cannot open root device \"%s\" or %s\n",
 			root_device_name, kdevname (ROOT_DEV));
 		printk ("Please append a correct \"root=\" boot option\n");
-		panic("VFS: Unable to mount root fs on %s",
-			kdevname(ROOT_DEV));
+		if (++retries > 5)
+			panic("VFS: Unable to mount root fs on %s",
+				kdevname(ROOT_DEV));
+		else {
+			/* wait 1 second and try again */
+			printk ("Retrying in 1 second, try #%d\n", retries);
+			current->state = TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE;
+			schedule_timeout(HZ);
+			goto retry;
+		}
 	}
 	panic("VFS: Unable to mount root fs on %s", kdevname(ROOT_DEV));
 out:
 	putname(fs_names);
 	sys_chdir("/root");