Probs after compiling kernel

When I try to compile my own kernels, I always have one big problem.

Everything works well until I reboot with the new kernel. After choosing the new kernel in lilo, I can see that it starts loading, but after 2 secs my monitor turns black.
I can reach the computer with a remote ssh-client, so the kernel seems to work.
I have tried different settings for vga in lilo.conf both with and without VESA framebuffer. Sometimes it works if I write vga=ask. Then I can choose a screenfont, and the monitor works, but I cant start X. X complains about missing fonts, and shuts down again. I have tried to run XFree86 -configure, but bash wont recognize that command...
I have tried with two different computers, and kennels 2.4.18 - 2.4.20 and have the same problems.

I would like to have that nice penguin and the fonts that the "original" kernel uses, but how do I get them there?

If the monitor turns off at boot it may mean there's no terminal support in your kernel. Are you sure you have it compiled? And compile without framebuffer (when you have a working one without, you can compile another one with framebuffer).

Thanks for your answer.

I compiled with "vga text console" and "video mode selection support". I tried again with only "vga text console", and now my monitor is working.
Does this means that I can't get that nice penguin, and the hires fonts?
Are there any other choises I can make?
In my xconfig, many menus are grey. Does this mean that I dont have support for them (the framebuffer is among them), or can I make them black in some way? I'm espesially interested in the firewire support.

You have to enable framebuffer support and then enable it in the lilo.conf.

When a menu is grey it means it's choosen in a different place not to support the option. So it means you need to find out 'enable firewire' option and choose it (I'm guessing, I don't know its name, but it exists for sure ). Then firewire-related menus will be available.

You have to tell the kernel to prompt for development and/or incomplete code or drivers. It is in the 'Code maturity level' option at the top of the menu in menuconfig, or at the top left corner of xconfig. Hope this helps.

icy

Worked great, thanks.

Almost there, I think...
Seems that everything is working in "console-mode" now, but I can´t get X to start. There seems to be trouble with the nvidia driver. It works fine in the original 2.4.18 kernel, but won´t work in my 2.4.20 kernel.
I get an error message about "Couldn´t initialize the NVIDIA kernel module".
I have read the FAQ:s from nvidia, and they are saying that the driver kernel could be built with the wrong "kernel headers" if I upgrade my system. They recommends to make a new installation of the driver kernel with the command: make install SYSINCLUDE=/path/to/kernel/headers. Where do I find these kernel headers? When I try to just write make install, I get an error about unresolved symbols in nvidia.o.
Could there be anything else to try?

When I installed Slack, I chose to have KDE as my graphical interface, but now I would like to try Blackbox instead. Where do I choose winch window manager to start?

To change your default window manager I think the command is xwmconfig.

The kernel headers that are being requested are in the tree of the kernel that you just built in the include directory. So a typical path might look something like /usr/src/linux-2.4.20/include.

The nVidia will need to be completely rebuilt for the new kernel. The old nvidia.o was on a 2.4.18 kernel probably. So either do make clean on the nVidia drivers and start fresh or just delete the source tree and restore from fresh sources again. Then follow through on the module build.

This process will need to be completed for any other custom built modules you may have as well. For instance, alsa sound drivers.

Thanks, it worked fine.