I have Scientific Linux working OK with the root directory on an old hard 
disk.  This is starting to fail so I have installed an SSD and copied the 
system to the new disk.  

After changing the new /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst to point to the new 
partition, the new grub boots OK but Scientific Linux the fails with lots of 
red FAILED messages against each step of the boot process. 

Two error messages stand out.  The first - essentially the first line printed 
says that the libblkid library is missing.  Later there are lots of messages 
indicating that the root directory (or at least var and tmp) are mounted read 
only.  [Note once I get a working system these directories will be moved back 
to a normal disk to save the SSD].

The missing library might indicate that the initramfs fils is corrupt, but I 
have used diff on the two boot directories and contents and except for 
menu.lst they are the same.  (As libblkid identifies disks, its absence may 
explain why the root directory stays read only.)

I have tried to get more information using kernel parameters (i.e. debug) but 
it all scrolls past the terminal window too fast to see much.  The shift-pause 
button (which should prevent this) does not work because it triggers the 
scientific linux startup movie instead.  

I have also tried increasing the size of the buffer using log_buf_len=2M and 
slow things down using boot_delay=500 but the kernel seems to ignore both 
options.

If anyone has any ideas of why the system is not booting I would appreciate 
hearing from then.  If not any ideas on how to slow down the boot-up process 
or loose the boot up movie would be useful.  Unfortunately I just have the 
single unix box so I cannot route the boot log to another machine.

Regards,

David Webb.