Blank Screen after Kernel Compilation with High Memory Enabled
 

I have been using the bare kernel that comes with the Slackware 10.2 distribution. However, I have added a total of 2 GB of RAM to the system. Here are some steps I took to compile the kernel for highmem support:

1. cp /boot/config-ide-2.4.31 /usr/src/linux/.config
2. cd /usr/src/linux
3. make menuconfig
4. Processor type and features -->
5. High Memory Support (on)
6. Exit
7. make bzImage
8. cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-custom-2.4.31
9. cp .config /boot/config-2.4.31
10. ln -fs /boot/config-2.4.31 /boot/config

I added the image to lilo.conf and ran /sbin/lilo. The new kernel seems to boot just fine, and the 2 GB is recognized, but when starting X, the screen goes blank. I can't even switch to another virtual terminal using Shift-Alt-F6. The only solution is to reboot. I still have the original kernel image configured in Lilo, so I'm able to recover, but I would really like to take advantage of the extra RAM.

I vaguely remember installing some kernel module for my NVIDIA graphics card some two years ago. Perhaps this has something to do with my problem? Any help to solve this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I had a similar issue. It revolved around not the kernel, but my boot options. If you use lilo, set vga=normal in the /etc/lilo.conf file if grub, there is a similar line in /boot/grub/menu.1st If you have another linux box, you can check this by doing an ssh into the box you are having a problem with, and see if it is up and running, just no local monitor support. You can boot with slax, knoppix whatnot, and edit these files. In the case of lilo, I found it easier to use a slackware install disk (no gui to wait for) and chroot then edit, re-run lilo, exit, then reboot.

If you have nvidia graphics, you must re-install the nvidia driver after every kernel update. As an interim measure, you can 'modprobe nv' to load the kernel nvidia module (nv) and have 2d graphics to work with until you reinstall the nvidia driver.

Yes, I had to re-install the nvidia driver (among other things). Everything appears to be stable now. Thanks again.