Ok, here's the the story:
I'm running Mandrake 7.2 kernel 2.2.19-4.1 and I wanted to try compiling the 2.4.7 kernel.
I followed the Howtos and everything seemed to compile correct. I tried booting with the floppy I created, and except for some usb module problems, everything seemed okay.
But, first strange thing: After the first boot, I logged in as root okay and then tried to run mcedit to change some startup scripts. But the system just hung there, with a blinking cursor. Had to CTRL-C and use pico instead.
Then, next boot up (still from the floppy), I couldn't login. I typed in 'root' and then after entering the proper root password, I got the same blinking cursor staring at me. This lasts about 30 seconds and then the login screen (with the penquin) redraws itself and I'm back were I started. It does this with my userid in addition to root. Changing consoles with CTRL-ALT-F2,F3,etc. does the same thing. I ended up CTRL-ALT-DELing. I then tried booting from the HD with the same result. Went back to 2.2.19-4.1 and it worked fine.
I looked at all the /var/log messages I could find and I couldn't find anything about any failed login or anything.
What's going on? This is my first attempt at compiling a kernel, so I'm sure I could've messed up somewhere, but how can I find out what's wrong when I don't get any kind of error?
Any ideas?