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Old 06-04-2003, 04:34 PM   #1
noobix
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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: New Jersey
Distribution: Slackware 9
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Unhappy Kernel compiling woes....


ok....this will be a long post becuase i am going to ask a few questions an try to give you guys info about my system thhat i think might help you slackmasters help me.....and thanx in advance for any and all replies, i've been reading this forum for a month now and everyone seems eager to help us noobs.....it's a beautiful thing....

that said, lets move on....

at this very moment i am reformating and reinstalling slackware 9 on my compaq presario 1275 laptop. this is my 7th reinstall(i reinstalled 5 times when first learning slack and messing with files as root....i know, i know....wut do u expect, i'm a noob ). the last 2 reinstalls have been prompted by bad kernel compilations by me.....i studied the DaOne's kernel comp guide for noobs and attempted to compile a kernel for my machine. both times it seemed to work fine, however when i chose the new kernel at the lilo prompt, i get a "BIOS Success....." message and then the systen reboots itself and i get put right back at the lilo screen...weird....

if i choose the old kernel the system loads and i can get into x but my ethernet and sound(even thought the modules i modified to make them work were unchanged) don't work anymore(the reasons for my first 5 reinstalls)

what could have i done wrong?

here are my sysem specs:
The 1275 is similar to the other 12xx models. The main details of it are:

* K6-2 366 Processor
* 64MB Ram, upgradable to 160MB (I have 96MB, later 160MB)
* 4.3GB HDD
* 13" 800x600 HPA display
* Synaptics Touchpad
* Built-in floppy and 24x CDROM
* Compaq 56-DF V.90 Win Modem (Lucent Win Modem)
* Neomagic 128XD graphics chipset (800x600 on LCD, 1280x768 on CRT)
* ESS ES1869 AudioDrive sound (SoundBlaster Pro compatible)
* One PCMCIA Type II slot (i have my ethernet card here)
* 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 PS/2, 1 USB, External Monitor, earphone and microphone connectors

now for my questions:
1. given these specs what should i include/exclude in menuconfig?(the only things i know i don't need are the RAID options and the experimental internet options like IPv6)
2. will compiling the kernel without changing anything in menuconfig result in a faster system?
3. if i compile and get the same crappy results as before, how do i get rid of the new shit kernel and restore my system to the way it was precompile?(upto not i have been taking the noobie route and putting on a fresh install of slack and re configing.....way too time consuming, there has to be a shorter more painless way)

thats all i can think of for now as i'm multitasking, writing this thread and newbie installing slack(AGAIN), and i'm at work....i know i'm missing some stuff, but this is good for now

NOTE: i'd like to keep this thread mine, so all you other noobs post a new thread for your questions....i saw what u guys did to DaOne's kernel how-to thread...please don't do it to this one

thanx again
 
Old 06-04-2003, 04:44 PM   #2
jstu
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Registered: Jan 2002
Distribution: slackware
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If you dont change anything in menuconfig you will end up with the same kernel if the old .config file is there if it's not the machine probably wont boot.
For the third question after recompiling just add another entry into lilo.conf file it should look like the old one except it will point to the new image you created.

Last edited by jstu; 06-04-2003 at 04:48 PM.
 
Old 06-04-2003, 04:48 PM   #3
Tinkster
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In addition to what jstu said: edit your Makefile
and modify the EXTRAVERSION-variable so
you don't kill your old modules ;)

Quote:
2. will compiling the kernel without changing anything in menuconfig result in a faster system?
No ... you will at least have to change the
CPU :}

And as for the re-boot on "BIOS success..." I'd
suggest to only change things you KNOW you'll
need ... also, start out with the .config from Slack
rather than the one you get when doing
"make mrproper" because Slacks defaults are
more generic, even though you'll probably
compile a host of modules you won't need.

Cheers,
Tink

Last edited by Tinkster; 06-04-2003 at 04:55 PM.
 
Old 06-04-2003, 04:50 PM   #4
jstu
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Forgot that one very important
 
Old 06-04-2003, 06:12 PM   #5
quietguy47
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Location: Everett
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http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/doc...O/Kernel-HOWTO
This is always a good read.
 
Old 06-04-2003, 07:03 PM   #6
kremlar
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you shouldn't need to reinstall if you just futzed a few modules. if you can still reconfigure and recompile the kernel, the problem should fix itself once you get all the configurations right.

just make sure you've got some form of boot disk just in case you remove a working kernel from lilo.conf...not that i've done that
 
Old 06-04-2003, 09:38 PM   #7
noobix
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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: New Jersey
Distribution: Slackware 9
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follow up....

wow u guys are fast....thanx

Tinkster:

Quote:
edit your Makefile and modify the EXTRAVERSION-variable so you don't kill your old modules
altering EXTRAVERSION will give me a fresh set of the newly compiled modules and save the originals?.....if so, where are the originals saved and how do i restore them if i mess up?

Quote:
quote: 2. will compiling the kernel without changing anything in menuconfig result in a faster system?
No ... you will at least have to change the CPU :}
this was one of the things i forgot to ask in my first post.....in the cpu option in menuconfig, the only option i saw was i486(did i just not scroll down far enough?), however, i believe my processor is in the i586 class(in KDE's Controll Center it says i'm running an i586)......what should i change to feel an increase in performance?

kemlar:
Quote:
you shouldn't need to reinstall if you just futzed a few modules. if you can still reconfigure and recompile the kernel, the problem should fix itself once you get all the configurations right.
ok, say i mess up on a kernel, so i boot from the old one and start over......do i skip the lilo.conf part and let the "make install" write the newly compiled kernel over the "first time fuckup kernel" in vmlinuz?.......and in this case wouldn't it write the came file to vmlinuz.old(aka the original slackware kernel)?

thanx again guys
 
Old 06-04-2003, 11:24 PM   #8
Tinkster
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Re: follow up....

Quote:
Originally posted by noobix
Tinkster:



altering EXTRAVERSION will give me a fresh set of the newly compiled modules and save the originals?.....if so, where are the originals saved and how do i restore them if i mess up?
Not quite so ... what it does is it creates
a subdirectory under /lib/modules/2.4.xx-<EXTRAVERSION>
so you can use the old and new kernel concurrently, even
if they are basically the same but you're using other modules.

Quote:
this was one of the things i forgot to ask in my first post.....in the cpu option in menuconfig, the only option i saw was i486(did i just not scroll down far enough?), however, i believe my processor is in the i586 class(in KDE's Controll Center it says i'm running an i586)......what should i change to feel an increase in performance?
There should be a whole lot more of CPU's
listed, you might be right about the not scrolling down
enough part :)
The default is i386, but if you have a Pentium-CPU
it should make a difference .


Quote:
ok, say i mess up on a kernel, so i boot from the old one and start over......do i skip the lilo.conf part and let the "make install" write the newly compiled kernel over the "first time fuckup kernel" in vmlinuz?.......and in this case wouldn't it write the came file to vmlinuz.old(aka the original slackware kernel)?
I'm not kelmar, but will answer anyway. ;)
Yes, you just keep the names the same,
and have the puckarooed once overwritten.
If you change the kernel you should run
lilo, even if there was no change to lilo.conf
so it modifies the boot map accordingly...

I usually don't use make install but rather
copy the required files manually into place :}

Cheers,
Tink
 
  


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