[syslinux] 2 root disks sdb1,sdc1; if set "root=/dev/sdc1", mtab lies saying sdb1 is root!?

[Tom Rodman]

I have 2 SCSI disks each w/a RH 7.3 ext3 root filesystem: /dev/sdb1, and /dev/sdc1.
/dev/sda1 is an old RH4.2 root filesystem. (sdb1 was created as an image of sdc1
using dd.)

I have no problem booting from a SYSLINUX 1.52 floppy with SYSLINUX.CFG
containing "append initrd=initrd.img  root=/dev/sdb1".

When I alter SYSLINUX.CFG with:
"append initrd=initrd.img  root=/dev/sdc1".  The boot also works just fine:

  dmesg|grep Kernel results in:

    Kernel command line: initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/sdc1 BOOT_IMAGE=vmlinuz -b

THE PROBLEM: the mount command and /etc/mtab indicate
that "/dev/sdb1" is root- I know this is false because the
sdb disk is never accessed (LED never lites) , and because I have
distinct files on sdc not on sdb.  If I reverse the SCSI ids on the 2 RH 7.3
disks the behavior is identical when I boot from /dev/sdc1.

What can be done to clear this up?

Please help or let me know a more appropriate place to post this.


thanks/regards;
--
Tom Rodman
perl -e 'print unpack("u", "\.\=\$\!T\<F\]D\;6\%N\+F\-O\;0H\`");' #my e-mail address