kernel troubles
 

Ive installed and compiled kernels before. Ive dealt with problems , include errors stuff like this im sure this a dumb question but i need help. I tryed everything that i can think of. I installed redhat beta its like 9.0.93 or something like that, well the kernel that it ships with has problems with drivers, mainly the HSFlinmodem drivers. I need them , so i figured I would download the kernel source for the redhat9 kernel (kernel-2.4.20-20.9) and then acpi patch it. All goes well , it compiles , no errors , installed right.
Now when i reboot my machine , it starts doing its thing.
Then WHAM kernel panic kernel cant mount root drive cause of something appending the root=label=/ line
so i fix that i put in root=/dev/hda1
Fine it boots the root partition

Now it says something bout not being able to init a default console
Does anyone have any clue what i did wrong , or what i can do to fix it cause i havent the foggiest idea. Ive never ran into this before, this is like my 100th kernel ive compiled and never had this happen to me before.

Thanks prior,
kevin