kernel making me quit linux

DAChristen29 · 12-30-2002, 11:11 AM

alrighty then. i need some help to keep me using linux. i have lots of trouble compiling my own kernel. every time i get to the "make bzImage" step, it gets about 15 minutes into the make process where i get an ERROR 1, in video card, or sound, or if not those, then something else. i have tried copiling multiple times with kernel 2.4.19mdk (mandrake 9.0) and i alway get this.

there was one time i got it to work. but wheni booted it up, my dvd-rom/cd-rw didnt work.

ALSO, i just compiled the default mandrake 9 kernel flawlessly, and im using it now. but, i saved the configuration file, and when i tried to rebuild another kernel form the configuration file, i got another error (either error 1 or 2.) so there's something wrong here.

what i want to know is how do i fix this and make the stupid error go away, and, are there any "easy-to-use" kernel compiling tools avalible to download? something like where it will auto-detect my current hardware, X free86, and kernel settings, and apply it to my kernel i'm compiling so it will make configuring my kernel earier and faster, and useable.

im about to quit linux if i cant fix this, cause its way to frusturating
-Dave

DavidPhillips · 12-30-2002, 11:26 AM

Only thing I can offer is to take some notes on what modules your using.

lsmod > mymods.txt

this will create a file "mymods.txt" which contains the needed modules. This will help when you configure your kernel

DAChristen29 · 12-30-2002, 12:31 PM

how do i take notes of my modules ? im a newbie. i have a kernel config. file saved if thats what it is.

DavidPhillips · 12-30-2002, 12:49 PM

ok
that should work, but using lsmod will tell you what modules are loaded.

You should go through the kernel configuration carefully and read the help on each option to decide if you need it.

Usually you can just add module support for most things unless you are sure you don't need it

chrismiceli · 12-30-2002, 02:53 PM

always make mrproper before you compile a new kernel, you are almost sure to make errors, try this order
make mrproper;make dep;make clean;make bzImage;make modules;make modules_install

riddlebox80 · 12-30-2002, 03:27 PM

do you have to do make modules and make modules_install last I always do them after make dep?

DavidPhillips · 12-30-2002, 03:31 PM

try it the way it's shown there, it will work unless you have a gcc problem or bad kernel source

lackluster · 12-30-2002, 06:35 PM

I'm running slack 8.1 & I wrote this script back when I was in your predicament (June 2002). Try it out :

Code:

#!/bin/sh

make clean menuconfig
echo "If everything went okay we can install.....(y or n)"
read cont
if [ $cont == 'y' ]; then
    make dep bzImage modules modules_install
    cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /vmlinuz
    lilo
     # I cut out the ALSA re-compiling as it is not relevant to you
    echo "Looks like we are done. Reboot? (y or n)"
    read cont
    if [ $cont == 'y' ]; then
        reboot
    fi
fi

this should work for you, though you still need to configure it. to make it easier, change the line that says menuconfig to xconfig and run it under a psuedo-terminal (like ETerm or XTerm)

crashmeister · 12-31-2002, 01:24 AM

You can't use the config file from one kernel version for another - well,it might work sometimes but generally isn't a good idea.