Hello SROSeaner,
firts of all *Thank you very much* of remaining me on an "old" rule:
"If you want to recreate a problem, then do it under the conditions it occurs"
As alraedy told,: I am using kernel 2.6.7-rc2 and you are using *very likely* the default
kernel provided by Fedora. In my case the default FC2 kernel is 2.6.5-1.358
(uname -r) will give you the current active kernel.
So I booted FC2 with the default kernel, made the steps that worked well with the 2.6.7-rc2
kernel and could *not* mount the NTFS partition.
So what happened? Nothing special. If you are running kernel 2.6.5-1.358 then the modules
shall be in the directory /lib/module/2.6.5-1.358
and there wasn't a NTFS module. However there was a new directory called /lib/module/2.6.5-1.358custom.
BY the way: You may have a different default FC2 kernel then me. I will use my kernelversion below. You need
to modify it according to your kernel version.
IMPORTANT:
Do *NOT* modify anything in the configs directory !!!!
So Fedora uses an EXTRAVERSION in it's Makefile.
Take a look on /usr/src/linux-2.6.5-1.358/Makefile
at the top there you can find following
VERSION = 2
PATCHLEVEL = 6
SUBLEVEL = 5
EXTRAVERSION = -1.358custom
This means that the kernel and modules version will be 2.6.5-1.358custom which is useless for the running 2.6.5-1.358.
What we will *NOT* do is to change EXTRAVERSION from "-1.358custom" to "-1.358" (so simply removing "custom" in the Makefile)
We need to recompile the kernel.
There are two options we have.
Which your take is your choice. I *suggest* option 2.
1) We will compile a custom kernel
a) In this case go into /usr/src/linux-2.6.5-1.358
cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.5-1.358
b) now we need to clean up everything, left from the previous compiler run. This is done by
make mrproper
c) now copy the kernel sources to a directory detremined by the EXTRAVERSION
cp -r /usr/src/linux-2.6.5-1.358 /usr/src/linux-2.6.5-1.358custom
d) change into the custom directory
cd linux-2.6.5-1.358custom
e) Get the current kernel configuration
make oldconfig
f) edit the .config file so NTFS is enabled and compiled as loadable module
CONFIG_NTFS_FS is=m
Do NOT forget to save the modified .config file
g) let's build the kernel
make
(just simply invoke make. no makefile needs to be specifyed)
You will be asked if you want to enable NTFS. Answer this with m (so NTFS shall be compiled as module)
Answer the question about enabling NTFS write support with n. So *no* write support forn NTFS. At least that is my recommendation.
If there are other questions, you can answer with n.
You can answer the question regarding the NTFS debug support also with n but also y will not hurt.
Now take your time. It takes some time to compile the kernel.
h) now install the modules
make modules_install
i) Now copy the kernel image into the boot directory
cp /usr/src/linux-2.6.5-1.358custom/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358custom
here bzImage is the new kernel Image and we copy it into /boot reanaming it into vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358
j) Copy the System.map into /boot with a new name according to the kernel version
cp /usr/src/linux-2.6.5-1.358custom/System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.5-1.358custom
g) cd into /boot directory
cd /boot
h) Now we need to create the initial ram disk image
mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358custom.img 2.6.5-1.358custom
i) If you are using GRUB as boot manager (that's what I am using and this is FC2 default)
make a backup of your grub.conf file
cp /boot/grub/grub.conf /boot/grub/grub.conf.bak
j) Now add follwoing to your /boot/grub/grub.conf file
# Text to add BEGINN, BUT without this line
title Fedora Core with custom kernel (2.6.5-1.358)
root (hdX,Y)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358custom ro root=LABEL=/ vga=0x31a splash=0 quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358custom.img
# Text to add END but without this line
IMPORTANT Remarks: root(X,Y) is the drive containing your boot image - where X is the drive and Y the partition number (starting from 0)
This are the same values like given in the existing Fedora Core section in grub.conf. In my case it's root(1,5) so
2-nd IDE drive on the first IDE controller 6-th partition (I start to count from 1 therefore is 6-th partition. GRUB starts to count from 0
therefore it's 5 for GRUB)
I have vga=normal splash=0 quiet and no rhgb parameter since I would like to see all teh messages during boot
k) Now reboot your computer and select the
Fedora Core with custom kernel (2.6.5-1.358)
in the boot menu. This will boot your new kernel.
L) Check if NTFS module is loaded
lsmod | grep ntfs
if not load it manually
modprobe ntfs
*OR*
2) This is what I would recommend.
Instead of coompiling the custom kernel download and compile the 2.6.7-rc2 kernel I use. It fixes a lot of bugs previous kernel versions had.
It's really a stable kernel,a nd since I have it, I do not have any DHCP problems, soundcard works and I can read CD/DVDs created under Windows.
Download this kernel from
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/
You need there to find and download the file linux-2.6.7-rc2.tar.gz
Download the linux-2.6.7-rc2.tar.gz file to /usr/src
Now untar this file:
cd /usr/src
tar -zxvf linux-2.6.7-rc2.tar.gz
This will create a new directory under /usr/src
/usr/src/linux-2.6.7-rc2
go to that directory
cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.7-rc2
From now on proceed like given in the steps e) 'til L) above (in option 1) ). Of course you need to replace 2.6.5.1-358custom with 2.6.7-rc2.
You need also here to enable NTFS support (as loadable module) by editing the .config file (step f) BUT
it's very likely that you will not be explictly asked about NTFS support when invoking make (step g). Do not worry about that.
Since 2.6.7-rc2 kernel has new options, you will be asked if you want to enable them when invoking make.
You can answer with N (except if you are asked to enable NTFS explicitly. there you need to answer with m, so module). I suggest that you answer with n (so No)
when you are asked about enabling features that are EXPERIMENTAL. They can cause a lot of trouble.