Alright, so this is my first time posting and I am pretty much a noob when it comes to linux. So after a fresh install of Fedora core 3 with the included kernel 2.6.9-1.667, I try to get my wireless card working with ndiswrapper which I've done on my Ubuntu box so im familiar with the basic idea of what I have to do...but anyhow I find out that for ndis wrapper and a few other reasons I'll have to rebuild or update the kernel. Now, I figure since I'm going to rebuild the kernel either way I might as well update it. This is where the situation gets a little sticky, I have no internet access at all on the Fedora Core 3 box and getting it on there is not possible until, and unless I get this wireless adapter working. So I boot up my other hdd to win xp (*shudders*) and my internet is dial up. I start doing some research and spend hours downloading the full kernel source for kernel 2.6.26.3 from kernel.org then I drop it on my thumb drive and boot back up into Fedora copy the file over then extract it etc. I run make mrproper, make xconfig, make bzImage, make modules, make modules_install, and make install. All goes fine.. I reboot using the now installed 2.6.26.3 kernel I just built and it won't boot. This is what I am getting:

Booting 'Fedora Core (2.6.26.3)'
root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Kernel vmlinuz-2.6.26.3 ro root=/dev/volGroup00/log-Vx00 rhgb quiet
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x2c00, size=0x1bc4a0 initrd/initrd-2.6.26.3.img
[Linux-initrd@037f03000, 0xec51e bytes]

Decompressing Linux...Parsing ELF...done.
Booting the kernel.
arlan:No Arlan devices found
ide_generic: I/O resource 0x1f0-0x1f7 not free.
ide_generic: I/O resource 0x170-0x177 not free.
Red Hat nash version 4.1.18 starting
reading all physical volumes. This may take a while...
umount /sys failed:16
mount:error 6 mounting xt3
mount:error 2 mounting none
switchroot: mount failed:22
umount .initrd /dev failed:2
Kernel panic-not syncing:Attemped to kill init!


after that it just hangs until I hold the power button to power down the tower.
any help would be greatly appreciated

Depending on how the kernel is built it depends on how it identifies drives. By the looks of it something is missing from the kernel which needs to be compiled in as a static item, not a module. The kernel can not find the /sys directory.

I've always built my kernels by hand and I know my hardware, so I compile in all of the correct drivers and modulise others I _may_ need.

Go back to the make menuconfig (or xconfig) and compile in all the hard drive stuff as static then retry.

Alright sounds good, I will give it a try and let you know what happens. Thank you very much for the advice.

Well I'm not sure if I just don't know what I'm looking for when I'm setting it up in xconfig or what but I'm still getting relatively the same thing. Is there maybe a specific entry or area I should be looking for? Which section contains all the hard drive stuff, I poked around and I don't seem to be able to find anything that actually mentions hard drive.. As I said please forgive me I am still quite a n00b with this all. I have a feeling I could possibly be overlooking it, or not looking in the right place, or possibly even looking right over it not realizing it's what I am looking for. So if you could point me in the right direction that would be great, Thanks again I appreciate you taking the time to help me. In the meantime I will fiddle around with it some more and continue to try to get it to work

hi LinuxLovinNoob i think you are aware that fedora 3 hit it's end of life YEARS ago and is no longer supported , but if not...
i would dl and install fedora 8 from your windows install .

JohnVV, yes I am aware at the age of Fedora core 3, however I must say that seeing as I have Dial-up downloading another distro that is probably fairly large, is not an option. If it were be assured I would be doing so. As it happens I have acquired Fedora Core 3 on a dvd that had come with a book. So, I figured I would use it, I would not even have had that if it weren't on a dvd. However, I do appreciate your suggestion, but I am sad to say it is not really an option for me at the time. Thanks a bunch though

look here at the bottom of the page
http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora

you will need gcc3.4 or higher I believe.
ok you cd to /usr/src/uname-r and make mrproper then go to your boot folder copy the config file to the uname -r and rename it .config then do a make oldconfig ansewer all the leftover question the new kernal needs. follow the letters on the left N/Y/M the do a make . then do a make install. then do a make modules_install now before you reboot and use the kernel if you are using lilo your new kernel is called vmlinuz your old kernel link has been changed to vmlinuz old take the time and rename and make it fit the lilo.config
then do /sbin/lilo if using grub edit the menu.1s file to load your new kernel.
do not forget if you have lilo installed it will change it automaticlly that is good and bad because you do not know if the new kernel will boot. always make symlinks to your kernels. and always have one named just vmlinuz or bzimage. so you can boot it from a generic os boot program. if your old kernel has an initrd.img also you need to make one. read your docs.
Why do I use the config file from the boot folder it is the one that built your original kernel and it was built with the drivers you need.