Hope someone can help me. I have tried to upgrade my kernel to 2.6, but when rebooted theres no framebuffer support anymore(the words are huge), and I have no module support for iptables, and many others. lsmod reveals there are absolutely no modules.

thanx for any help.

The steps I used to compile were.

grab source
cp > /usr/src/
rm -r linux
ln -s blah blah
make mrproper
make oldconfig
make
make modules_install
/sbin/lilo

reboot

Did you compile in your video? Audio? Chipset?

Did you copy .config, System.map,and /usr/src/arch/i386/bzImage to /boot (With appropiate names)?

Then edit lilo.conf?

If you have issues, check out Shilo's AWESOME sticky: How I did it all, at the top of this forum.

go through the config with `make menuconfig`
or `make xconfig` instead of `make oldconfig`

don't do `rm -r linux`
`ln -s blah blah` does absolutely nothing
try `make bzImage` and `make modules`

I do that (make the softlink to the current kernel), because some programs need the kernel to compile. I would rather tell it to go to /usr/src/linux, rather than /usr/src/linux-2.6.17-rc3. Just makes life a little easier.

Also, don't 'make bzImage' and 'make modules'. Just type 'make' (It does both for the 2.6 series), then type 'make modules_install'

then you must be linking something other than "blah"

I took it to mean just 'yada yada yada' rather than typeI understand what you mean, tho. Clarity helps.

Kodon, try the 'make', it's much shorter w/2.6 In thev 2.4 kerenels, you do need 'make bzImage', 'make modules'. Give it a shot.

Plus, sometimes if you know the kernel works, and are just adding/subtracting from a perfect config, try 'make install' after. (Will install it to /boot, but not a recommended procedure. I prefer to copy myself, and edit lilo.)

i'm happy with the old-school method.

again...i wouldn't get in the habit of using the -r flag with rm
when it is not necessary. [granted, in this case it shouldn't do any damage]

make mrproper deletes the current .config file from the kernel source tree and uses a default one, which IMHO, it's not adequate by default. Recheck your kernel options with menuconfig, xconfig or using oldconfig with your old config file but without doing make mrproper (or copy the .config file AFTER mrproper).

I have done everything as shilo instructed. this is not my first compile but first to 2.6. I happen to do the rm -r as habbit, and on occasion it gets me in trouble, but btw the ln -s to hardlink kernel source is just laziness and habbit as well. as to compiling audio, video uh i am not sure. Is ther something else involved here that I am missing? there should be a reason that lsmod shows nothing. I just cant' figure it out. Basically there is not a thing suggested above that I haven't done. I assumed that long time linux users would automatically know what ln -s blah blah was (aka I have done the usual steps). I hear you though every one has to know exactly what has been done to help.

Steps:
Extract the kernel to /usr/src/whatever (softlink if you wish. I do)

cd to the kernel

'make oldconfig'

'make config' or 'make menuconfig' or 'make xconfig' (I use the xconfig, i like the GUI...lol). Select what your hardware needs. Read guides on this.

'make'

'make modules_install'

'cp .config /boot/config-whatever'
'cp System.map /boot/System.map-whatever'
'cp /usr/src/linux-whatever/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-whatever'

Edit /etc/lilo.conf for your 'new' kernel (Add it in, so you can boot to the old kernel if needed. Also, uncomment 'prompt' so you get a choice)

'/sbin/lilo'

reboot

I don't think you need to recompile the kernel. I don't use framebuffer, but I think they should be compiled as modules in the default kernel. So you may need to add them in a RAM image to make them work (same thing you do with the root file system support), because you need them right ahead, before you mount the root file-system.

That's another way. Read up on 'mkititrd' or look at README.initrd in /boot

Well, I appreciate the help guys, but no luck yet. When making the initrd image any module I add such as mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.16.18 -m ip_tables:gpm -f /dev/hda3 yields
can't find module ip_tables. Is /lib/modules/kernel-verstion linked to the kernel somewhere that maybe I haven't assessed correctly. I sure thought that the initrd sounded like a good idea, but I just don't know. Even if I just copy config & System.map to /boot, and cp bzImage to /boot/vmlinuz from a precompiled kernel, I get framebuffer support, but still lsmod reveals no modules whatsoever.

I WILL FIGURE THIS OUT

are the modules there?
can you modprobe them?
have you done it with `make xconfig` or `make menuconfig`?
the iptables configuration (as well as others)
has changed considerably since 2.4
and i doubt `make oldconfig` can handle the jump...

yeah actually went ahead and made menuconfig and adjusted. I can modprobe a few modules that I know. What does that mean?