I just tried to build a new kernel (2.4.24) and it seems to go smooth. I do all the things that I am supposed to according to the docs I have read:

make mrproper
patch p1 << thepatch.diff
make xconfig
make dep
make clean
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
make install

When I boot, the kernel comes up but things like pcmcia don't work. I tried to modprobe it and it gives an error on pcmcia_core.o. I look at the .o file for the kernel that works and notice perms of 744 and then on my new kernel the perms are 644. Ok.. the module is not executable. Well.. upon further investigation, none of the new modules are executable.

I don't see any steps about changing permissions of modules in all of the docs I have read. Why are mine not installing with the correct permissions?

Thanks!

Modules should be 644.

I noticed you do a `make clean` after doing a `make dep`. AFAIK this is not necessary, as running `make mrproper` actually performs the duties of `make clean` among other things as well. I would suggest:

make mrproper
patch p1 << thepatch.diff
make xconfig
make dep
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install

And rather than doing a `make install` at the end, I prefer to copy the kernel directly, so something like:

cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.24

And manually configuring my boot loader.

HTH!

Hmm... thank you about letting me know that I was being redundant in my steps... that is one less thing to remember to do. But it that brings on the question: Why did all of the RPM kernels that are on my machine make them 744? Also, I do all of the steps, but my new kernel is not loading the modules. Is there anything that I have to do so that the machine knows that I want to use the new modules or something? It really shouldn't be this hard so I must be missing something entirely.

Thanks again

Ok... I am up on 2.4.24 now.. What did I do? Well.. I noticed that the 'Kernel Development' rpms were not installed on this laptop so I installed them. Now, keep in mind that I checked the Documentation/Changes file and had all of the minimums listed in that file, but who knows, maybe there is something else that is required that was installed when I installed the Kernel Dev packages.

Oh well.. if anyone else has the same problem, check to see the Kernel Dev packages are installed.

Over and Out,