is this a bug or a feature ?? yes that is not a mis print 2.0.36 I have a driver that only works in 2.0.36 :(
It can't open the initial console. From Documentation/devices.txt: The console device, /dev/console, is the device to which system messages should be sent, and on which logins should be permitted in single-user mode. Starting with Linux 2.1.71, /dev/console is managed by the kernel; for previous versions it should be a symbolic link to either /dev/tty0, a specific virtual console such as /dev/tty1, or to a serial port primary (tty*, not cu*) device, depending on the configuration of the system.
What you can do is, for example, is remake /dev/console as major 4, minor 0. (rm /dev/console ; mknod /dev/console c 4 0); while this is the old behavior and won't be include in RH, it should allow you to boot both kernels.