Unable to boot 2.4.17 via initrd

["Richard B. Johnson" <root _at_ chaos.analogic.com>]

I have tried for several days to boot 2.4.17 (The last "stable"
kernel) off initrd.

/linuxrc never executes, therefore I am not able to load modules
to start SCSI disks, etc.

I have appended /linux-2.4.17/.config for review. The required SCSI
modules are made and the kernel has, or was configured to have,
initrd support.

This is the tail-end of my existing 'make_initrd' boot script.
I have snipped off all the stuff necessary to make the ram-disk,
etc. This works and has been working before pivot-root changes
were made in the kernel.

#
lilo -C - <<EOF
#
#  Lilo boot-configuration script.
#
boot = /dev/sda
message = /boot/message
compact
delay = 15	# optional, for systems that boot very quickly
vga = normal	# force sane state

image = /boot/vmlinuz-${VER}
  initrd = /boot/initrd-${VER}
  root  = current
  label = new 
  append = "nmi_watchdog=0"

image = /vmlinuz
 root = current
 label = linux

image = /boot/vmlinuz-${VER}
  initrd = /boot/initrd-${VER}
  root  = /dev/sdc3 
  label = maint 

image = /boot/vmlinuz-${VER}
  initrd = /boot/initrd-${VER}
  root  = /dev/sdc1 
  label = maint-su
  append="init=/bin/bash" 

image = /vmlinuz.old
  root = current
  label = linux_old

other = /dev/sda1
  table = /dev/sda
  label = dos
EOF


From the documentation in linux-2.4.17/Documentation/initrd.txt, I
have deduced that all I have to do is add/change "append="
New stuff..... 


#
lilo -C - <<EOF
#
#  Lilo boot-configuration script.
#
boot = /dev/sda
message = /boot/message
compact
delay = 15	# optional, for systems that boot very quickly
vga = normal	# force sane state

image = /boot/vmlinuz-${VER}
  initrd = /boot/initrd-${VER}
  root  = current
  label = new 
  append = "root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc rw"


[REST SNIPPED]

EOF


The boot messages show:
RAMDISK driver initialized: (with some numbers)

However, I never see the usual,
"RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0"

-- nor do I see anything that would have been executed from /linuxrc


Cheers,
Dick Johnson

Penguin : Linux version 2.4.1 on an i686 machine (797.90 BogoMips).

    I was going to compile a list of innovations that could be
    attributed to Microsoft. Once I realized that Ctrl-Alt-Del
    was handled in the BIOS, I found that there aren't any.

Attachment: config.gz
Description: Binary data