I've compiled the mandrake kernel 2.6.3-4mdk, and it ends up with errors - supermount seems to have loaded, but none of my drives (cdroms, floppy, other windows disk partitions) are mounting (I get a 'user denied' message even when I'm root), usb problems etc.

Obviously I've decided to recompile it again, however, on the "make install" command, the kernel fails to install saying it couln't open the 'loopback device'. I still have the original kernel, but compiling under it also gives the same error (also the ones mentioned above on bootup).

As a result, I also can't re-install any kernel through rpm. ... Is there a way to fix the 'loopback device' error or is there a workaround for this? I (fortunately?) still have the original kernel source files. Thanks in advance!

When I compile a kernel, I download the tarball to /usr/src, decompress it, go into it's directory (example: /usr/src/linux-2.6.7/) and type

make menuconfig

to configure the kernel. Then to compile it, I type

make && make modules_install

and then i type

cp /usr/src/linux-2.6.7/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/linux-2.6.7

And then I add an entry into menu.lst/grub.conf/lilo.conf for it

Thanks, I managed to find a workaround and restored the original kernel.

Do you know of any guides that give tips on kernel tweaking? (I'm trying to do it for Doom 3 )

Follow the guide Gentoo offers for 2.6 kernels....Just look in their handbook. It is how I learned and I am running my own kernel that I downloaded right now.