ok, i was about to post an update here right now again:
i recompiled the kernel using almost the exact same .conf as my "host" system, gentoo livecd, the only difference is that i disabled kheaders, which isn't supported by lfs. then, i ran grub-mkconfig instead of using the grub.cfg sample from the book itself, and then i managed to move on by a millimiter. now i finally get text output from boot, but i still get the cpu halt message from vmware. when i close the message box, the screen updates and says:
"---[ end kernel panic not syncing vfs unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) ]---".
then, i moved my eyes up a bit and saw something really disappointing:
it was trying to mount the rootfs, but for some reason, the damn partitions weren't supported? i did it exactly like how the book told me, the boot partition as vfat and the root as ext4, and it's very unlikely that the kernel isn't supporting those filesystems, 'cos the only thing i disabled was the kheaders. my partitions weren't supported, but the iso 9660 filesystem from the gentoo livecd was showing up on the list. the hell is going on???
> Are you running lfs linux in a linux ubuntu VM host? In win11 VM host? Is that what is going on?
it's a windows 10 vm host.
> Did you enable linux kernel LVM support when you built the kernel? (specifically kvm video obvious)
this was very likely enabled on the .conf from gentoo livecd.
> Did you check your host VM's video options?
well, the only option i can change here is the amount of vram, which i put on default anyway, which is 8 gigs.
> Did a GRUB BOOT menu come up? Is your VM a bootable grub image on GPT? Or are you using somekinda virtual system where GRUB isn't used?
yes, i got a grub boot menu, and my vm type is uefi-only.