Upgraded Kernel - NOTHING WORKS

Okay - I thought I knew what I was doing, but apparently I don't know anything.

I got my system all setup using Mandrake 8.1 just the way I wanted it. MDK 8.1 uses an older 2.4.8 kernel, so I thought I would upgrade to 2.4.17 for more reasons than one.

So I compile the new kernel, copy the bzImage and system.map, make the new initrd file and setup the new image in the lilo.conf. I proceed to reboot and select the new entry.... after this, it boots alright, but my configuration is TOTALLY MESSED UP. Aurora is not there anymore, none of my startups scripts appear to be the same, it's like a whole new machine from scratch! And of course, nothing works anymore (hardware).

What the hell am I doing wrong? I've been messing with this for months now, and so far WINDOWS is still the leader in my book, unless someone can provide some help besides tellign me I don't know anything (considering I've done this for 20 years, and been an IT architect for 15) about Linux. I seem to have bought approx 15 books, which they all suck, and are a good 1200 page reference manual at best. No web sites seems to give any information about this (or anything else), besides basic how-tos of compiling and installing things.

I'm at my breaking point guys, can anyone provide any intelligent assistance here, besides "You suck" or "You don't knwo what you're doing" or any other smart comments (probably not)? Nothing ever seems to work right or appear to be what someone claiims it is...............

:smash: :smash: :smash: :smash:

Heheh, well good luck trying to upgrade a Windows Kernel at all

But about your problem, don't sweat it. I tried upgrading my kernel as well and i couldn't even boot up without errors everywhere even after i thought i did it right. Its just pure luck i guess.

The most baffling of it all is, why did I lose Aurora (that's an entirely seperate program) and why doesn't the VGa=788 work in the lilo.conf as it does with all the others.

Originally posted by therion12 Heheh, well good luck trying to upgrade a Windows Kernel at all But about your problem, don't sweat it. I tried upgrading my kernel as well and i couldn't even boot up without errors everywhere even after i thought i did it right. Its just pure luck i guess.

another highly valuable contribution to linuxquestions.org.... :-| if you've nothing worth saying, i'd recommend you didn't say anything at all.

ok, well firstly you still do have your old kernel i presume?? when you edited lilo.conf you only added a value, not replaced the existing one i hope.

you possibly did not install the modules, or just simply did not configure the kernel correctly. It takes a bit of practise to get used to compiling kernels, you really need to go through the config carefully. One of the easiest mistakes to make is that SMP (multiple uP's) is turned on by default which most people don't want. and such like.

it's easy enough to use your old kernel config stored at /boot/config-2.4.8 (ish) to configure the new kernel, although it's not recommended really. jus load it in xconfig, and you *should* be ok, still best the scan through. after that you can get braver and remove some of the rubbish you don't need... if you need help actaully getting back in now IF you messed stuff up.. just say.

the aurora thing.. a) aurora is horible! kill it!! and b) you've not enabled the frambuffer in the kernel.

You've proven my point superbly.

Yes I am very aware of the multiple processor option in the kernel and yes I added a value to the lilo.conf... the only thing that is screwed up is when I boot to the new kernel. The old one works fine.

Like I said before, I can work around (I hope) the hardware issues, that is a matter of module selection. I personally do like Aurora and would like to continue using it. But the biggest complaint I'm having at the moment is the text size. The old kernel uses VGA=788 .. which brings up the text perfectly as you would expect, nothing funky.

In the new kernel, VGA=788 produces a black screen... doesn't lock it up, I can watch the HD as it boots, and I practically have the sounds of the writes/reads memorized. haha I obviously tried VGA=ask and went through all of the settings (0-6 I believe) and none of them produce the same "normal" text size as you would see on any terminal.. as with the orginal MDK 8.1 kernel.

to get FB working, you'll need to enable experimental features in teh first menu in xconfig, and then enable frame buffer in erm.. oh it's one of the last menu items... have a search! not enabling the FB will definitely give a black screen

the aurora thing.. a) aurora is horible! kill it!! and b) you've not enabled the frambuffer in the kernel.

Uhhh, now thats a worthless comment. Some people like Aurora.

Originally posted by therion12 Uhhh, now thats a worthless comment. Some people like Aurora.

erm. no it's not, that line gives the reason that aurora doesn't work.. did you know? There's a difference between a little irrelevant humour in a useful post, and someone talking rubbish.

I'm not talking rubbish. Its a fact that making your own Kernel is cumbersome and can mess up your whole computer.

sorry..? are you suggesting that compiling your own kernel is dangerous and shouldn't be done? or are you just saying that it shouldn't be done if you're not got sure what you're doing?

either way, arguing like this is daft, and not good for the forum... sorry for wasting the space jeremy!

Sorry.

ah kewp... and you wonder why you're not a mod yet ...


anyway... compiling a kernel CAN really mess up your computer if you're not sure what you're doing... you need to know what kind of hardware you have... names, numbers, ect. the easiest thing for you to do is to reboot from a rescue disk and replace the new kernel with the old one.

if you insist on recompiling the kernel, then copy the .config file from the original and use it for the new one, at least to start off. that way, at least you have all the needed modules.

Well I am going to try enabling frame buffers and see if that does it. In regards to the config file for the previous kernel.. I did a search for *config* in the original kernel source directory and found nothing resembling .config ... maybe it's another name? I don't know enough about xconfig to know what filename it saves it to, other than if I manually save it to a file for later retreival. And since that is the kernel straight from the MDK 8.1 install, it may or may not be there??

no no, it really should be /boot/config-2.4.8-26mdk, i checked the rpm and that's definitly in the kernel file. xconfig saves to .config in the current directory, it's a good idea to back this file up if you're make cleaning or such so you don't lose the config.

I'll check there....