I download the source for the 2.6.3 kernel and compiled a kernel using these instructions, which basically involves the following commands:

make mrproper
make config
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install

According to the instructions:

I had no /etc/conf.modules file, but when I installed RH9 there was an initrd file. And when I installed an RPM for 2.4.20-30.9 kernel, an initrd file was present too.

So first I tried commenting out the initrd line for the new kernel, and in paniced on boot. something about ROOT=

so I built an initrd file using the following command:

/sbin/mkinitrd /boot/newinitrd-image 2.6.3

Then renamed the file to initrd-2.6.3 and edited my grub.conf

And it paniced on boot.

NOTE: the initrd file I built was significantly smaller than the two initrd files associated with the two previous kernels. So what am I doing wrong in building this initrd?

Do I need /etc/conf.modules file with this line:

alias scsi_hostadapter BusLogic

Do I need that exact line? Or what else should I put for "BusLogic"? Where do I find out?

Thanks

"/etc/conf.modules"
I think that's a typo. It is /etc/modules.conf.
Edit: Also, making a monolithic kernel and doing away with the initrd mat be easier (see howto you posted).

alias eth0 pcnet32
alias usb-controller usb-uhci


No SCSI in there.

Well, I've built a 2.6 kernel three times. The first two times I did a make xconfig and customized it. It paniced on boot. The third time I built a "default" kernel using make oldconfig and it paniced as well.

I also did a make install as the last step to let the system build an initrd file. And I'm thinking the initrd file is where the problem lies.

Whether I build the initrd file myself or do it via make install, it is quite a bit smaller than the existing initrd files I have for my 2.4 kernels.

Is there a pre-built generic 2.6 kernel and initrd file that I can download somewhere? At kernel.org it appears all I can get is the source.

You only need initrd if your boot device is scsi and you build scsi support as a module. Or if you have a boot filesystem such as reiserfs and you build reiserfs as a module. To use initrd you must have loopback device support built into the kernel. Also I have found that it requires ext2 filesystem support built into the kernel also.
You only need that if you actually have a BusLogic scsi controller. If your hard drive is IDE and you have root filesystem support built into your kernel then you probably don't need initrd file.