can somebody show me a super easy step by step guide of how to do whatever i need to do to upgrade to kernel (2.6.17.7). I have already downloaded patch-2.6.17.7.bz2

Do you already have 2.6.17.6. The patch you have is applied to that kernel release. It may be applied to 2.6.17 release to but not sure. What you need is the full file if you have none of the previous source versions from the current tree line.

Now there are a few good compile post here. Do a search for them.

But the basics is this.
As root extract the file to /usr/src
This will create a directory called 2.6.17.7
Once extracted be in /usr/src
Run the commnad ' ln -s linux-2.6.17.7 linux '
Then ' cd linux '
Now run ' make oldconfig '. Hopefully this will gather info on current kernel to save config option choices. This will make a file called config or .config
Now run one of the following to make changes you may need ' make config ' or ' make gconfig ' or make xconfig '
Now After changes you did save the configuration to a file. Then hit the Save option and finally hit the Exit option.
Run the following commands
' make ' to build the kernel and make modules
' make modules_install ' to install modules in /lib/modules/2.6.17.7
' make install ' to add to /boot dirrectory and bootloader.

Reboot and see how it went.

One note uncheck the DVB options because there is a issue in this release with some or all of that section.

Brian1

i have kernel 2.4.13 installed

So i have the wrong Kernel file?

Yes you have the wrong file. You need the full kernel release of 2.6.17.7 or whatever is newer. One thing to google around for is to see with your distro what it may take to get a 2.6 kernel to work on a system that is setup as 2.4. Some compilers may need upgraded to compile the kernel. In the easiest option is to upgrade to a 2.6 kernel distro.

Brian1

Basically, you can't "just jump" from 2.4.x to 2.6.x.

By far the easiest way to do it is this: first, upgrade your distro. Let the distro's upgrade mechanism do all of the (very!) hard work for you. Once you're running on a 2.6.x kernel you can upgrade it by other means if you choose.