Hi
I've being trying now for the past few days to compile the kernel.
I run make mrproper
and then use make xconfig where I selet the existing initrd-2.4.20-8.img which sits in the /boot directory, all I change here is adding the read ntfs module under file system.
make dep
make clean
make bzImage
Here is where I get errors and no image file is created, the errors are

ASENAME=pci_pc -c -o pci-pc.o pci-pc.c
{standard input}: Assembler messages:
{standard input}:1002: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1080: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1164: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1243: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1259: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1269: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1337: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1352: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1363: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1851: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
{standard input}:1928: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'
gcc -D__KERNEL__ -I/usr/src/linux-2.4.20-8/include -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -march=i686 -nostdinc -iwithprefix include -DKBUILD_BASENAME=pci_irq -c -o pci-irq.o pci-irq.c
pci-irq.c:477: `PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ESB_0' undeclared here (not in a function)
pci-irq.c:477: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:477: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[14].device')
pci-irq.c:477: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:477: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[14]')
pci-irq.c:479: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:479: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[15]')
pci-irq.c:481: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:481: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[16]')
pci-irq.c:483: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:483: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[17]')
pci-irq.c:484: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:484: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[18]')
pci-irq.c:485: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:485: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[19]')
pci-irq.c:487: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:487: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[20]')
pci-irq.c:489: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:489: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[21]')
pci-irq.c:490: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:490: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[22]')
pci-irq.c:491: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:491: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[23]')
pci-irq.c:493: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:493: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[24]')
pci-irq.c:495: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:495: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[25]')
pci-irq.c:497: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:497: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[26]')
pci-irq.c:499: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:499: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[27]')
pci-irq.c:501: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:501: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[28]')
pci-irq.c:503: initializer element is not constant
pci-irq.c:503: (near initialization for `pirq_routers[29]')
pci-irq.c: In function `pcibios_enable_irq':
pci-irq.c:789: warning: unused variable `interrupt_line_quirk'
make[1]: *** [pci-irq.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.20-8/arch/i386/kernel'
make: *** [_dir_arch/i386/kernel] Error 2

Can anybody help please

When I had Redhat, I always had problems building the kernel from the original configuration I had to go and configure everything in it to avoid any problems. It may be a pain, but you'll learn a lot.