How to upgrade Kernel?

[Dooghy]

I'm a newbie Linux user and have a lot of issues in getting my system work.
See my threads "USB not working ... pls help" and "Mouse wheel scroll problem".

After searching for solutions it seems I have to remove the kernel boot "acpi=off" parameter; but the current kernel doesn't allow that so I have to upgrade my kernel to version 2.6.20 ( currently I'm using 2.6.18 ). But I don't know from where I can download it. I would like to do it with Yast, since beeing a newbie Linux user I don't to compile the kernel manually.

Or, what other value I can use for "acpi" boot parameter?

[aliov]

I'm a newbie Linux user and have a lot of issues in getting my system work.
See my threads "USB not working ... pls help" and "Mouse wheel scroll problem".

After searching for solutions it seems I have to remove the kernel boot "acpi=off" parameter; but the current kernel doesn't allow that so I have to upgrade my kernel to version 2.6.20 ( currently I'm using 2.6.18 ). But I don't know from where I can download it. I would like to do it with Yast, since beeing a newbie Linux user I don't to compile the kernel manually.

Or, what other value I can use for "acpi" boot parameter?

You don't have to upgrade your kernel since the 2.6.18 is a recent one and contains all the USB chipsets support ,for your mouse is related to X11 configuration and not to the kernel provide more information about your problem and we will see how we can solve them.

[Dooghy]

What more info I can provide? Basically, the USB bus seems to not be configured (or improper configured) because all of my USB peripherals are not working. Then my PS/2 mouse is working fine except the scrolling (the nouse scroll wheel doesn't work).

Searching to solve the USB problem first I found someone who had similar problems on an HP Computer (also based on an 64 bit AMD). Here is how he solved all his problems:

'Re: [opensuse] USB not working with openSuSE 10.2 final version (i.e. retail boxed version)' - MARC

Basically he could solve the problem by removing the acpi Kernel boot parameter. But this is not allowed by the curremt Kernel I'm using. So he updated the kernel to 2.6.20 and then removed the acpi parameter.

Any other solution would be greatly appreciated.

[aliov]

I think you can remove the acpi=off from the boot parameter ,go to /boot/grub and edit the menu.lst there and remove this parameter.

If that doesn't help so you can give a try to the kernel 2.6.21 (wish i'm using) download it and extract it using
tar -xvf linux-2.6.21.tar.gz or tar -xvjf linux-2.6.21.tar.bz2.

after that you'll have to configure your kernel copy to avoid configure everything from scratch copy a file in the /boot directory called Config-2.6.18 (or similar) to the extracted kernel directory under the name of .config so your new kernel will se it after that inside the kernel extraced source do make menuconfig go to :
Device Drivers --->
USB support --->
and enable everything not enabled there as a <M> just press m,and also you have a look to MMC/SD Card support --->
save and exit
make bzImage (and go to take a coffee)
make modules
make modules_install

after that copy the file in arch/i386/boot called bzImage to /boot
and know you still have to configure grub,edit the menu.lst and enter something like (you have a look how it's done for your kernel 2.6.1

title kernel2.6.21
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda4 resume=/dev/hda3

don't erase your previous kernel just in case,probably you'll have some problem related to the framebuffer of your VGA,post here if any.

Hope this help.

[Dooghy]

I've removed the acpi param from boot options and the system freezed during boot up.

I'm a neawbie Linux user; I have no idea how to upgrade/install a new kernel.

Thanks for your reply, but I'm lost in your instructions.

[aliov]

I've removed the acpi param from boot options and the system freezed during boot up.

I'm a neawbie Linux user; I have no idea how to upgrade/install a new kernel.

Thanks for your reply, but I'm lost in your instructions.

please post the menu.lst and also tell me where did you lost ?

[Dooghy]

First of all, my system is working just fine now. I'll update the others posts related to USB bus failure and mouse scroll issue.

But in regards to this post:

I've updated via Yast the Kernel to the latest available and also downloaded the sources to compile the Kernel after rebooting. But after rebooting the X manager didn't start due to incompatibilities with nVidia drivers. At that point I decided to give up in fixing again my system (reainstall the nVidia drivers and maybe compile the new kernel; well, I still have windoz habits ... ) and I decided to reinstall Suse. But because the last time I've installed it wasn't a normal installation (I couldn't install by using the normal installation option so I've chosen the fails safe option), I boot my system in win XP and burn another DVD (I thought maybe the previous DVD was scratched or maybe the burn process wasn't successful 100%). After that I start the installation process. Again, I couldn't use the normal installation but it worked with the second option (ACPI disabled option).

After installation, the mouse was working perfectly, including the scroll wheel.

Still, USB bus wasn't configured properly and therefore none of my USB devices was working . How I solved this issue, have a look at my thread "USB not working ... pls help".

For config. of my mouse with scroll wheel working, see my thread "Mouse wheel scroll problem".

[aliov]

Yes i had a look in your USB no working thread , thanks a lot for that useful link .

i read about removing the USBFS from suse for security reason not sure what is that mean,but i'll try to figure out .
Congratulation for you.

Best Regards.