Red Hat 8852 Published by

RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0.
VFS: Cannot open root device "<NULL>" or unknown-block(8,3)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
unknown-block(8,3)

http://people.redhat.com/wtogami/archive/fc4-installer-syslinux-crash.jpg
If you boot the FC4 CD or DVD installer and see an error something like the above text or picture, then your motherboard chipset may be affected by the syslinux crash bug. This bug reportedly happens most often on Intel Pentium4 or Nocona chipsets 845, 865, 875, 915, 925, 945, 955, and very rarely on some AMD64 motherboards.

Simple Workaround
The majority of users can easily workaround this problem by using the "garbage" workaround. Simply boot the CD/DVD, and at the first prompt type any line of garbage (the string "garbage" works fine), then ENTER. At this point you can use any regular installer command to start the installer, or simply ENTER.

Less than Simple Workaround
http://people.redhat.com/pjones/i915/booti915.iso
For some rare users the "garbage" workaround does not work. For these
users, this 6MB sized i386 boot.iso replacement should theoretically
work. Note that boot.iso is only usable with a network-based install.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=62400
See the latest version of this notice with new information as it is known at this URL.