I have installed the 16k stack kernel from linuxant to get my wireless card to work. I had it working but it would freeze because of the 4k stack in the original kernel. Anyway, now I cannot install any packages using yum because of this kernel. I get the error that 'a newer version kernel-2.6.18-1.2849.fc6.16stk.i686 is already installed.'

Is there a way to rename the kerenel so I can use yum to install the neccessary packages that I need? I did a search on google and could not find anything.

So boot with a different kernel or reduce the updates or install of new packages. You could also explain what your attempting to do with a bit more detail.

There is no easy way to rename an installed kernel, a complied kernels name is set in stone.

I am trying to use the 16k stack kernel because my system freezes with my wireless card. So If I have the regular (4k stack) kernel on my computer with all the necessary packages that I need and I always boot the 16k stack kernel, all of those packages should work, right? I'm sorry, still trying to learn all of this. I want to make sure I understand this. So, regardless of what kernel I boot, the packages I have installed will work?
Thanks Lenard, it seems you are the only one who will answer these newbie questions.

Well, one way around this problem is to build a custom kernel yourself. I and many others have explained how to do this here at this forum site and other forum sites. Personally all I use are custom kernels built from the vanilla kernel sources at kernel.org, They are smaller and easy to build after you get a good working configuration which is the only hard part in the process. This is also how and where you can specify the name of the kernel somewhat.

The answer to your query, yes if you install the rpm packages using one kernel they should work just fine with another (99.99%) of the time, unless the package is built just for a specific kernel that is. You should be able to install most packages using yum except of course packages that are for a specific kernel, a lot of third party wireless packages for example only work with a specific kernel.

Do you think I will run into problems using a pre-built kernel, or do you think I should try building a custom? I have no problem attempting to build a custom kernel. Its just when hit a dead end, it is not guaranteed that someone will walk me through the problem. This is my third fresh install because of the problems I have had. Each time the process is easier but it has been weeks, almost months of me working on this to get it working how I want. My goal at this point is to get a clean kernel running with 16k stack size so my wireless card works.

Unfortunately nobody can guide you through fixing a broken kernel, but building a custom kernel is not that hard if you follow the instructions. This this case you are lucky, you only need to make one change from the pre-built kernel configuration see for example;

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=503254

And you might also want to review;

http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/K...ild-HOWTO.html

Just use the make steps I outlined in the first link above, they work very well when building kernels for the Red Hat family.

When build the custom kernel, am I able to change the stack size to 16, or only disable the 4k stack size? It seemed like before, I was able to disable the 4k stack and still had the freezing issue.

No, you don't understand the kernel is built without the 4k stack option just like the Linuxant kernels are built.

Should I get the vanilla kernel from kernel.org? I am at work right now, so I can't do anything at the moment. At home my computer has no operating system on it. I have the fc6 install cd's. Where should I start?

Any guidence on where I should start? I have the fc6 installation disks.

Thought you had a working Linux install??? If yes then extract the kernel and build according to the directions, if not install FC6 and the development tools. Then follow the links I already provided.

ok. I did not have a working system. Since I was having so many problems with fc6, I downloaded the installation disks for fc5. I installed it, installed all the packages that I needed and downloaded the source to begin prep for a custom built kernel. I followed the instructions on the release notes, and changed the configuration a bit. Then did the
make
make modules_install
make install

Got through all that with no errors. Then I rebooted and it booted one of the other kernels that I have installed. I have three kernels installed
kernel-2.6.18-1.2239.fc5
kernel-2.6.18-1.2257.fc5
kernel-2.6.18-prep


The reason why it is called prep is because I didnt change the name before I compiled. When I was building the new kernel the 2239 one was running. After I finished the make install, I rebooted and it booted into the 2257. My /boot file contains this:

grub (folder)
lost+found (folder)
config-2.6.18-1.2239.fc5
config-2.6.18-1.2257.fc5
initrd-2.6.18-1.2239.fc5.img
initrd-2.6.18-1.2257.fc5.img
initrd-2.6.18-prep.img
System.map
System.map-2.6.18-1.2239.fc5
System.map-2.6.18-1.2257.fc5
System.map-2.6.18-prep
vmlinuz
vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2239.fc5
vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2257.fc5
vmlinuz-2.6.18-prep

This is what my grub.config file looks like:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hdb
default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-prep)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-prep ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-prep.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2257.fc5)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2257.fc5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-1.2257.fc5.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2239.fc5)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2239.fc5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-1.2239.fc5.img
title Other
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

How do I boot the new kernel? And what do I have to edit to change the name from prep to something else?

Choose it, the custom kernel is the first one (zero in grub terms). Either press almost any key and choose the kernel or edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file to use the default of zero (default=0)

Changing the name of the kernel needs to be done prior to building the kernel. Where the kernel source tree is located edit the Makefile at the top of the directory tree. You can just relabel the title in grub to something else if you want;

title Fedora Core (2.6.18-prep) becomes for example; title Fedora Core (Custom kernel)

Note the default=1 in your grub.conf file, telling it to default to the second entry, and the hidemenu line telling it to hide the boot menu from you.

Try changing them to

Thanks for all your help. I got my new custom kernel running just fine. One last question. Now that I have my custom kernel, I don't want to use the updates. The computer keeps bugging me that there is updates available. My computer is functioning how I want it to, there is no need for ANY updates is there? If not, how do I disable it so the computer stops reminding me?

I haven't researched this question yet, so if you don't want to give me the easy answer I understand. But, could you point me to a link?

Merry Christmas