hello everybody!
i am new to linux. i have installed suse 9.2
some time ago i tried to use apt-synaptic to update programs, because i saw that yast didn't update many of them (for example from kde 3.3 to 3.4). using synaptic also updated the kernel (i marked all updates). after that i couldn't boot: kernel panic.
for that time i installed all again. i tried again because i wasn't sure of what was happening. same thing but this time i found out how to boot starting from the installation dvd (run installed version), and i downgraded everthing. it worked. so i started to look in the web for similar problems and i found the mk_initrd thing.
but continuing readin i understood (wrong?) that yast2 runs it automatically.
so i used synaptic only to download the packages and after i installed them with yast2. it ran suseconfig but it all happened again!! kernel panic....
so, does suseconfig (or anyway yast2) run mk_initrd? is this the problem?
thanks!

Don't upgrade your kernel with apt. Update it with yast online. It does patching that apt cannot do in most cases.

ok, i'll never do it again!!
but i only downloaded the packages with apt and after installed all with yast. shouldn't it handle everything?

Apt can handle everything but security and kernel "patches". When they(suse) send out .diff files to patch existing programs, apt cannot install them. You need to use yast online for that.

Most of suse's patches are released in a compressed .diff format so it's fast to download. The downside is that you can't just use any program to patch it. You have to use yast online.