i was just recompiling my kernel when i hit a snag. mkinitrd is unable to use a block loopback device to make the image. it says 'loop devices busy'. when i try and open one of the loop devices, "/dev/loop*' , bash says it's not a valid file. so im guessing last time i compiled kernel i must of left out support for this feature?? what am i to do now?? i want to recompile, but i can't make an initrd image... do i have to reinstall EVERYTHING?

edit: i read another post quite similar, luckily for that person he had compiled in loop as a module, and a simple '/sbin/modprobe loop' solved the problem. i didn't enable loop AT ALL, so am i screwed?

Do you still have the stock kernel, I mean that comes with your distribution? It's a good practice to keep that just in case. If you don't have that I'm afraid that there's no other way. May be LILO doesn't need initrd, if I'm not mistaken.

nope, i reloaded everything last night. ah well, i was looking for an excuse to try a new distro anyhow least i know not to do that again.