anyway, after recompiling 2.4.26, my system refuses to mount anything because she can't recognize all the devices...it must not be the problem of /etc/fstab cuz when I switch back to the old image, everything works fine. there might be lack of a process during booting time i guess...any help would be great.

What filesysytem are you using, and is it compiled in or as a module? If its a module, then the Kernel cannot access the disk to load a module, to access the disk. If that makes sense.....

This is usually the problem in these instances.

You maybe didn't config the kernel correctly and didn't compile in a fs or codepage that you need. Also if you didn't make an initrd then you need the root fs compiled into the kernel, not as a module.

i can make sure that i compiled ext3 in the kernel, but i am not familar with codepage and root fs.
i didn't make an initrd right now (could you plz tell me how to make one [without 'busybox'] and do i really need one?)
Thanks!

Don't need the initrd if you have your filesystems compiled in. If you use ext3 then make sure it's not a module. Also go to the Native Language Support and make sure they are selected as modules - do the lot to make surem, but I use 437 and 850 and ISO 8859-1 and 8859-15

If that's not it can we see the errors and the fstab thanks...

what's the role of "native language support" here????

codepages are usually used in windows filesystems ( fat32 etc. ) i.e the codepage I have installed is 850. If your not accessing windows its probably no that important.

thx for all the reply.
I just recompiled the kernel again, and after booting into the new system, it outputs:
"root(hd0,1)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel --no-men-option /boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda2

Error 1: Filename must be either an obsolute pathname or blocklist."

how come does it report 'filesystem type is ext2fs'? i never made any linux partition as ext2 in my life! And, the filename is an obsolute pathname.

Here is my the FS part of my kernel configuration:

CONFIG_VIDEO_PROC_FS=y
CONFIG_AUTOFS_FS=m
CONFIG_AUTOFS4_FS=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_FS=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_CHECK=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_PROC_INFO=y
# CONFIG_ADFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_AFFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_HFS_FS=m
CONFIG_HFSPLUS_FS=m
# CONFIG_BEFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_BFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y
CONFIG_FAT_FS=y
CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=y
CONFIG_UMSDOS_FS=y
CONFIG_VFAT_FS=y
CONFIG_EFS_FS=y
CONFIG_CRAMFS=m
CONFIG_TMPFS=y
CONFIG_RAMFS=y
CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y
CONFIG_ZISOFS=y
# CONFIG_JFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_MINIX_FS is not set
# CONFIG_VXFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_NTFS_FS=y
CONFIG_NTFS_RW=y
# CONFIG_HPFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_PROC_FS=y
CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=y
CONFIG_DEVFS_MOUNT=y
CONFIG_DEVFS_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_DEVPTS_FS=y
# CONFIG_QNX4FS_FS is not set
CONFIG_ROMFS_FS=m
CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
# CONFIG_SYSV_FS is not set
CONFIG_UDF_FS=y
CONFIG_UFS_FS=y
# CONFIG_UFS_FS_WRITE is not set
# CONFIG_XFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_CODA_FS is not set
# CONFIG_INTERMEZZO_FS is not set
CONFIG_NFS_FS=y
CONFIG_NFS_V3=y
CONFIG_NFS_DIRECTIO=y
CONFIG_NFSD=y
CONFIG_NFSD_V3=y
CONFIG_NFSD_TCP=y
CONFIG_SMB_FS=y
# CONFIG_NCP_FS is not set
CONFIG_ZISOFS_FS=y
CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS=y

(plz share some patience

i see you use devfs. is devfsd installed and working in your old kernel?
be sure you configured right ide hardware in. try compiling with ext2 support.

i don't know about the --no-men-option thing, but afaik it it's unusual.

the other thing is that u use the bzimage - from where did you copy it to boot?

sl mritch.

i see you use devfs. is devfsd installed and working in your old kernel? --> I don't think i have defsd installed right now...

be sure you configured right ide hardware in. try compiling with ext2 support. ---> yup, the list above showes that it compiled with ext2 support.

the other thing is that u use the bzimage - from where did you copy it to boot? --> i copied it from {linux-source-dir}/arch/i386/boot/bzImage

are you using grub?

Yes!!!!

well, i think there's the flaw. doublecheck the config or post it.

sl mritch.

well, I have two kernel images under /boot which is located in /dev/hda2 -- the old one and the new one. They both came from the kernel 2.4.26.

The Grub refuses to write the new kernel into the memory, but the old one still works well. The only change I did in grub's config file was replacing the name of old image with the new one.

mritch, any new idea???

try to rename it to vmlinuz. post your configfile. post a ls -l from your boot-dir. rewrite the configfile.

this error usualy shows up if there 's something wrong there, but i'm not too sure about this since i don't use grub- you may try to switch to lilo.

sl mritch.