I now realize that my FC5 x86_64 is optimized for Pentium 4 processors and not my AMD X2 4400+.. I was wondering if anyone has some directions for recompiling my kernel and booting it with GRUB... i have an LPI certification book that does go into detail but it is out-dated and I don't want to screw it all up. It would be great if someone could either post or link me some straight forward directions for recompiling it to work with my AMD chip...
Thanks people...

Well, if you've got the kernel sources & the config file used to compile your current kernel, it should be as simple as going to the /usr/src/linux directory, running "make menuconfig" and changing the processor option.

Then make, make modules_install, copy the kernel to /boot & update your bootloader to use the new kernel

If you don't have the current config file, and/or need a more in-depth explanation, just let us know

thanks... how do i configure my grub bootloader ? where is the config file for that? so obviously the config file for the kernel should be there... and if the sources aren't i can just get the most recent kernel sources? from where? fedora site?
thanks again you guys are quick to respond

-x

Yeah i installed FC5 from the bootable DVD. and under /usr/src directory there is a redhat directory but it that and all subdirectories are empty. where can i get the kernel sources and how can i create a config file?? help appreciated thanks!

It probably wouldn't hurt to wait for more than 37mins between posts, I believe the bumping rule says not to at all because the forum automatically does it after 24hrs but I'm not sure.

Use Yum to install the kernel source, it should also install the default Fedora .config which will get you started. If you have a AMD64 why don't you just install the x86_64 version of Fedora....? Then instead of just have a kernel built for your CPU you get all the packages built that way too...

hi,
for Fedroa kernels go to fedora site.
to modify grub go to /etc/grub.conf
what modification you want to be in grub.conf

More like /boot/grub/menu.lst or for a couple of distros /boot/grub/grub.conf

cs-cam : I did install the x86_64 version and was told it was still optimized for Pentium 4... and to recompile my kernel for my processor. This all developed originally because my FC5 is running incredibly slow copying files and USB - IDE throughput... as well as terminal windows are slowing down and everything else when doing copies that should only take a couple of minutes.

and your next post... I want to be able to boot my new compiled kernel with grub and not exactly sure how to do that, i imagine once I have my kernel I can just copy it in to boot and list it in Grub.conf???? I have never done this stuff before still new to linux and even though it takes forever to get some stuff working it's still the best.

You haven't yet replied to my question in this thread. You say is slows down so much when you're copying, DMA is probably not turned on for your drives because of a wrong module being loaded for your motherboard or something.

Let me know the output of this and we'll go from there, you might not need to compile a new kernel.

cs-cam : here is the output for hda :

/dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 1 (32-bit)
unmaskirq = 1 (on)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 256 (on)
geometry = 65535/16/63, sectors = 120103200, start = 0

and here is hdb :

/dev/hdb:
multcount = 0 (off)
IO_support = 0 (default 16-bit)
unmaskirq = 0 (off)
using_dma = 0 (off)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 256 (on)
geometry = 16383/255/63, sectors = 234441648, start = 0

both are IDE HD with SMART activated. i guess hdb has some issues... hda is obviously where the os is installed and hdb is most of my music where i am having trouble copying etc...
i was told in an earlier post that i should recompile my kernel... i tried to install the kernel package rpm that is my distro but obviously it said it was already installed ...(kernel-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.x86_64.rpm) and the /usr/src/* directories are all empty.. no config file and no kernel sources so i'm not exactly sure where to go from here...
waiting to hear from you...
thanks cs-cam

Well we have a winner with the problem, the thing is that there is another problem causing it to begin with By default, the kernel will enable DMA on all drives that it can because as you can see, the performance benefits are enormous. For it to be not enabled on your drive, it generally means an incorrect module is being loaded somewhere or in my case a while ago, I compiled support for the wrong motherboard into my kernel heh. Try running this to see if it works, otherwise you may need to do some research into what modules should be loaded for your hardware and why they aren't.

yeah i enabled the dma successfully but i don't know if it has boosted the performance much...
are there any quick instructions online for re-compiling my kernel for my sysem? like i said before there are no kernel config files and sources and i was unable to install the kernel rpm package... and in terms of checking all the modules loaded how do i do that?
thanks

sometimes it is really useless to help