Hi..i have a 2.4.20-8 kernel version on my system, on which i have installed 2.4.21 kernel. The former has networking feature available on it..i just wanted to know how i can enable it in 2.4.21 too..i'm not able to send any data using client-server model, on 2.4.21, because networking feature is not enabled..
Also, after enabling it, should i just save the new kernel configuration and proceed or should i recompile it?
plz help me...

That is not an OS - it is a kernel version. Please edit your profile to show your location and distribution. Thank you.

- you enter "make xconfig" in a terminal, then navigate the tree that is displayed until you find the correct network modules for your system. Click in the checkbox next to them, and recompile.

If you have enabled it as moduls, you need only do
make modules
make modules install

If you want it in the kernel, you need to compile the whole thing.

thanks for the reply sir..
i'm actually trying to realize client-server model on 2.4.21 using sockets..on 2.4.20-8 i tried and could transfer the data from client to server..the same program i could compile on 2.4.21 but when i tried to run it, it gave a connect error..the client couldn't connect to the server..so thought networking is disabled..i tried make menuconfig n enabled all network parameters, and recompiled the kernel using 'make dep' and 'make' commands..now can u plz advise me on wat can be done to get rid of the connect error??

The latest 2.4 version of the Linux kernel is 2.4.36.4, so I don't know why you're messing about with these old kernels at all. See http://www.kernel.org/

To troubleshoot, I'd basically have to be sitting there.
Note: it's easy to miss something in menuconfig. That's why I suggested xconfig.
You also seem to have missed out some steps: make dep && make clean && make zImage && make modules && make modules_install (the last few I think). But it's been a while.

So... what, exactly, is the connect error, and what did you do to get it?