Slack 9.0 Kernel 2.4.20

I've run into trouble with kernel sources that will not copy
to another location for patching purposes. I have installed
Win4Lin and it is otherwise working properly except for
loading with a framebuffer selection. To make a long story
short, the low-level framebuffer selection in the 'Console'
submenu of 'make menuconfig' is missing.

I have tried several copies to other locations and have
also run 'make mrproper' before copying. Comparison of
ls -laR lists of the original and copied sources revealed
some additions, all of which are on the copied side:

./scripts/lxdialog
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6852 Apr 25 10:04 checklist.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3864 Apr 25 10:04 inputbox.o
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 39815 Apr 25 10:04 lxdialog*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4764 Apr 25 10:04 lxdialog.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7396 Apr 25 10:04 menubox.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2128 Apr 25 10:04 msgbox.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8628 Apr 25 10:04 textbox.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5032 Apr 25 10:04 util.o
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2416 Apr 25 10:04 yesno.o

./include:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Apr 25 10:04 asm -> asm-i386/

./include/linux:
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 Apr 25 10:04 modules/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 126 Apr 25 10:04 version.h

./include/linux/modules:
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 48 Apr 25 10:04 ./
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 15616 Apr 25 10:04 ../

I tried removing these items and rerunning 'make menuconfig'
but the low-level framebuffer selection is still missing.

Matters have become worse. After running 'make mrproper'
on the original kernel sources, the low-level fb menu is now
missing there. Tried to delete and reinstall the kernel sources,
but same problem.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what I might do next,
aside from a complete reinstall or directly editing the .config
file, please let me know.

TIA

Download fresh source from ftp.kernel.org, unpack and check if you can see the option.

Nope! No good, still the same. This leads me to
believe that the problem is with some missing
component elsewhere.

Odd thing is, this was working correctly when I
first installed the kernel sources and recompiled
for specific hardware. I ran 'make mrproper'
with this compile.

I'm not that conversant with ncurses and don't
really know how it creates the configuration menu,
but the problem may lie there also.

Any suggestions welcome.

One additional detail:

If I leave the original .config in place and do not run
'make mrproper' to remove it, the low level framebuffer
driver menu appears in 'make menuconfig'.

Somehow, only the framebuffer selection menu is affected.

To the highly schooled this might seem like a "DUH".

To the inchoate, it is one more boulder on the path to knowledge.

Always select as set:

Code Maturity level Options --->
[ *]Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers

Certain submenu items will not appear without it.