Hi all,
I am using ubuntu distribution, I like to update my kernel , my present version kernel is 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux.
i downloaded latest kernel source from kernel.org "linux-2.6.31.tar.bz2" i followed the following steps to configure my kernel

1. i extracted the kernel source file in usr/src
2. I updated my gcc complier

root@sivakumar-desktop:/usr/src# apt-get install gcc
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
gcc is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 228 not upgraded.

3. Then i tried to run make menuconfig, i got the following error

root@sivakumar-desktop:/usr/src# make menuconfig
make: *** No rule to make target `menuconfig'. Stop.

4. then i tried

root@sivakumar-desktop:/usr/src/linux-2.6.31# make menuconfig
*** Unable to find the ncurses libraries or the
*** required header files.
*** 'make menuconfig' requires the ncurses libraries.
***
*** Install ncurses (ncurses-devel) and try again.
***
make[1]: *** [scripts/kconfig/dochecklxdialog] Error 1
make: *** [menuconfig] Error 2

Hi, what that means is you need to install the ncurses-dev package, but if you run make xconfig it may work without it.

You may also need libqt3-dev.

What I would do first is to run make oldconfig.

That will preserve settings from the working kernel and any ubunto enhancements.

Then run the config.

and save it, then run

make all

make modules_install

su to root and run

make install.

Cheers, Glenn

Steps after this

root@sivakumar-desktop:/usr/src/linux-2.6.31# make install
sh /usr/src/linux-2.6.31/arch/x86/boot/install.sh 2.6.31 arch/x86/boot/bzImage \
System.map "/boot"
root@sivakumar-desktop:/usr/src/linux-2.6.31#

when i run make install, i get the following message

root@sivakumar-desktop:/usr/src/linux-2.6.31# make install
sh /usr/src/linux-2.6.31/arch/x86/boot/install.sh 2.6.31 arch/x86/boot/bzImage \
System.map "/boot"
root@sivakumar-desktop:/usr/src/linux-2.6.31#

Type:

when ityped ls /boot i got the following output

root@sivakumar-desktop:/# ls /boot
abi-2.6.28-11-generic grub System.map-2.6.28-11-generic vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic
config-2.6.28-11-generic initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic System.map-2.6.31 vmlinuz-2.6.31
config-2.6.31 lost+found System.map-2.6.31.old vmlinuz-2.6.31.old
config-2.6.31.old memtest86+.bin vmcoreinfo-2.6.28-11-generic

If you're using a debain-based system such as ubuntu, l. mint, debian, etc, use make_kpkg... Just google it.

Hi, no error messages, Just a statement, all is good, reboot and select the 2.6.31 kernel to test.

Regards Glenn

Did you make changes to grub and added the new kernel?

I restarted and updated the grup, in the boot screen there was two options to select for the kernel 2.6.28 and kernel 2.6.31. iselected first kernel 2.6.31 i got the following message,

[2.612091] kernel panic not syncing : UFS : Unable to mount root s on unknown block (6,0)

Then two leds (caps lock and scroll led) continues to blink in keyboard,

Then when i restart and selected kernel 2.6.28. it asks my username and password after that i got error message as
"An error occurs while loading or saving configuration for update notifier"
"an error occurs while loading graphical....etc"

i was able to boot in text mode kernel 2.6.28

I restarted and updated the grup, in the boot screen there was two options to select for the kernel 2.6.28 and kernel 2.6.31. iselected first kernel 2.6.31 i got the following message,

[2.612091] kernel panic not syncing : UFS : Unable to mount root s on unknown block (6,0)

Then two leds (caps lock and scroll led) continues to blink in keyboard,

Then when i restart and selected kernel 2.6.28. it asks my username and password after that i got error message as
"An error occurs while loading or saving configuration for update notifier"
"an error occurs while loading graphical....etc"

i was able to boot in text mode kernel 2.6.28