[SOLVED] First install issues - "end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(179,2)"

aowl

Pi Model or other hardware: Pi3 Model B
Power Supply used: 5V 2.5A
RetroPie Version Used: 4.4
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: Keyboard
Controller used: Keyboard
Error messages received: ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(179,2)
Log found in /dev/shm/runcommand.log (if relevant): N/A
Guide used: Retropie site first install guide
&

File: ??
Emulator: N/A
Attachment of config files: N/A
How to replicate the problem: N/A

Additional:
Attempting a new install - Initially I was using a 32GB SanDisk Ultra 80MBs MicroSD Memory Card and have also bought and tried a 16GB version (Link for specifics).
I have tried using both Etcher and Win32 to write the image onto the MicroSD card but upon boot of the Pi I keep getting the error message ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(179,2)

I'm skeptical that the cards are both corrupted as they are form two different stores/points of purchase (Amazon 32GB & Argos 16GB) - I'm also reluctant to buy a third microSD card.
I've also seen mention of holding shift and pressing e to enter the config menu as mentioned in this thread; however there appears to be no power going to/recognition of the keyboard attached to the USB port.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

mitu

@aowl said in First install issues - "end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(179,2)":

Error messages received: ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(179,2)

Looks like a badly written image or a bad sd-card. Are you able to boot using the Raspbian Lite image ? Get the image from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/, write it to the SD card using either Etcher or Win32DiskImager and see if it boots.

aowl

@mitu
Thanks for the response. I have just wrote RASPBIAN STRETCH WITH DESKTOP to the 16GB card using Etcher - no problems as far as I can tell. Booted to the desktop screen.

mitu

@aowl Then you can install Raspbian Lite and if it works you can install RetroPie manually - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Manual-Installation/.

aowl

@mitu
Ahh I wanted to avoid this and luckily realized my idiocy - Thanks for the help

To put it bluntly I'm an idiot, and my advice to anyone out there is don't use 9zip.

mitu

@aowl said in [SOLVED] First install issues - "end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(179,2)":

To put it bluntly I'm an idiot

Care to share ?

aowl

@mitu
I was using 9zip to unzip the image and it wasn't unzipping the entire image file for some reason. Decided to, as an experiment, use winrar instead and I noticed the image file was a different size - I'd not even thought to check this.