silent boot on newly compiled 2.6.20kernel

[operator]

hello everyone,
I have newly compiled and installed the new 2.6.20Kernel on slack11 and something strange happened - slack seems to boot all fine without giving any boot messages (screen totally black/blank) - i waited a few minutes and tried to 'startx' and the default KDE GUI started normally - however there is no sound and my network card is not seen (I know cos i'm unable to browse my 192.168.1.1 router)

has anyone ever had such experience?

I believe I compiled the kernel successfully as it boots successfully.

i compiled manually: downwloaded 2.6.20kernel... tar -xjvf file.name.bz2..... make xconfig (save) .... make ... make modules_install ..... copied System.map and bzImage to '/noot/ .... edited '/etc/lilo.conf .... run lilo ..... and rebooted!

any suggestion welcome!

[kern]

you probably forgot console support

why are you compiling a kernel anyway? Just upgrade the binary packages.

unless you specifically need new functionality or drivers, compiling is a waste of time and effort, and you'll only break things, like now for example.

[operator]

i was just upgrading to the newest 2.6 linux kernel - i have done this before without any problems of any kind, but this time..... hey this is linux right? - anyway as i was saying about upgrading.... I haven't tried to upgrade the binary packages just cos honestly i have never done it before (always preferred to go inside the kernel) and then I would probably break more things than I fix, - although I have also tried to install the 2.6 kernel directly from the linux CDs but then when it was the time to get the modules from another CD ('/extra' or '/testing') things got a little complicated and I gave up quickly due to lack of time - i just wanted to try slack11 with the newest kernel and appreciate the differences! - by the way...i'm now running slakc11 using the default 2.4.33 kernel again, and unless i have a quick way to fix that little inconvenience i guess i'll keep using it as exam-stress is at the highest levels now!!
any suggestion welcome

[kern]

You compiled a kernel to save time? uhm

use the packages, then this wont happen.. simple

[aliov]

To solve this issue you should enable the frambuffer support in your kernel.
make menuconfig (i prefer the terminal interface not x)
go inside devices driver
and graphic support you should enable the following:[*] Enable firmware EDID

<*> Support for frame buffer devices
[*] Enable Video Mode Handling Helpers

<*> VGA 16-color graphics support
[*] VESA VGA graphics support

make sure that in your .config file you have something like:

#
# Console display driver support
#
CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK=y
CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE=128
CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y
CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE=y
# CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE_ROTATION is not set
# CONFIG_FONTS is not set
CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x16=y

This should works for sure.
Hope this help

[operator]

inside devices driver
and graphic support you should enable the following:[*] Enable firmware EDID

<*> Support for frame buffer devices[*] Enable Video Mode Handling Helpers

<*> VGA 16-color graphics support[*] VESA VGA graphics support

make sure that in your .config file you have something like:

#
# Console display driver support
#
CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK=y
CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE=128
CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y
CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE=y
# CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE_ROTATION is not set
# CONFIG_FONTS is not set
CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x16=y

This should works for sure.
Hope this help

i'd love to say it worked but it didnt! saorry mate! but many thanx, I learnet something new!

use the packages, then this wont happen.. simple

i have browsed the slcak11DVD and i couldnt find those pkgs! could tell me the what the /dir/... is? pls

[aliov]

Just to see why i didn't work for you, after enable all these what you did ?

[operator]

hello there and first of all thanx again for your help!
what i did was:
1) rebuilt the kernel enabling what u suggested
2) compiled and installed the new kernel
3) I couldnt find those line in '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' so i literally copied and pasted from your posting
4) just rebooted ....

p.s.: any additional specs.
box: toshiba laptop, Intel Pentium4, 2.8MHz, with 512MB ram, 32Mb nVidia VGA card - runnin on win2003server and slack11 dual boot

if i do decide to install slack11 using the huge_2.6 kernel from DVD... if won't detect anything, from ethernet card to maouse, etc...

thnx again

[aliov]

I think i know what is your problem, when i said .config ! nothing to do with the X configuration of (/etc/X11/config ) ,when you extract the kernel source and configure it the kernel save the configuration in a file called .config inside /usr/src/linux----/ you can have a look to this file by typing emacs .config and sure use any text editor you like and be sure that the options are enabled.

Another thing, if you want i can send you a copy of my .config but i configure it with the kernel-2.6.21,in principle there is no too much difference.

Cheers.

[operator]

ohhh, funny stuff you hear with newbies huh?
OK! I will try again then, however, I'd be very thankful if you could send/attach a copy of such file.
many thnx again