Building a new kernel

brownwrap · Post by **brownwrap** » 2010/02/17 02:22:55

The kernel that came with Centos booted right up. I have since tried to build a kernel and have not been sucessful. The last attempt I made, the system booted, but the keyboard didn't work. I have a USB keyboard and mouse and I've enabled USB support. I have an ACER M5641, with nVidia chips. Is there a way I can find the working config file that was used to build the kernel? Actually it is no longer the original kernel since I have used yum to update things.

chuina · Post by **chuina** » 2010/02/17 04:30:29

Hi,
I'm not sure that building a new kernel will solve your problems.

Searching with [b]nVidia[/b] by clicking the [b]Titles[/b] button in the [url=http://wiki.centos.org/]CentOS Wiki[/url] search gives more info.

There is [url=http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos#head-20d4e8f40f53a48d66f5e57ce1a5679bcfdae73b]CentOS on Laptops[/url] and [url=http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos#head-c4dbf9ecb355694c78175c7eaad46a2472a3849b]Kernel[/url] in the [url=http://wiki.centos.org/]CentOS Wiki[/url]

DrLove73 · Post by **DrLove73** » 2010/02/17 10:11:54

Why would you want to foul your nice CentOS with custom built kernel? Don't you know that Red Hat is backporting kernel patches for RHEL/CentOS? 2.6.18-164.x branch is closer to 2.6.30 then to 2.6.18.

I foresee reinstallation of the entire system in next 1-2 months.

AlanBartlett · Post by **AlanBartlett** » 2010/02/17 17:33:33

[quote]
Actually it is no longer the original kernel since I have used yum to update things.
[/quote]
Your statement, above, does not make sense.

If you "[i]have used yum to update things[/i]", the current [i]CentOS[/i] kernel is still present on your disk. You will see it listed in the [i]Grub menu[/i], if you press [b]any[/b] key as soon as the [i]Grub splash screen[/i] appears. Select the [i]CentOS[/i] kernel by moving the shadow bar with the keyboard's arrow keys and press [i]Enter[/i] to boot it.

There is a [i]CentOS[/i] wiki article that you should read, [url=http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Custom_Kernel]I Need to Build a Custom Kernel[/url]. Please pay particular attention to the Introduction, especially the "eye burning" [color=FF0000][b]red block[/b][/color].

The fact that you have a USB keyboard and mouse is no reason to build a custom kernel.

Furthermore, if you are not using the [i]CentOS[/i] kernel sources, [b]kernel-2.6.18-164.11.1.el5.src.rpm[/b] (as of the date of this post), then you are entirely on your own -- as no support is available, for obvious reasons.

brownwrap · Post by **brownwrap** » 2010/02/17 22:31:16

[quote]
DrLove73 wrote:
Why would you want to foul your nice CentOS with custom built kernel? Don't you know that Red Hat is backporting kernel patches for RHEL/CentOS? 2.6.18-164.x branch is closer to 2.6.30 then to 2.6.18.

I foresee reinstallation of the entire system in next 1-2 months.[/quote]

Let me try to clarify my original post. Centos works fine. I've updated things through yum, so yes, the original kernel is there, but I'm not using it. I don't want to change the current kernel on Centos at all. What I was trying to say is the kernel works fine, but I was trying to build a new kernel to run on the same hardware, but a different OS. I was trying to build my own OS from a web project. My own roll-your-own OS, came up, but the keyboard didn't work. I am fairly certain its up, it mount the root filesystem and added the swap space, and brought up a login prompt, but the key board doesn't work. I've had this on other OSes, like Knoppix. System comes up, but won't let me log in. So since the configuration works on the kernel I am using with Centos, I wanted the config file to build a new one.

AlanBartlett · Post by **AlanBartlett** » 2010/02/18 15:58:29

As this thread is not about support for [i]CentOS[/i], it has been moved to the more appropriate [b]Social[/b] forum.

CentOS