---I've just followed the how-to on compiling a kernel. Everything seemed to go ok.
Other than blatant errors (bad compile), you wont know till you boot up with it.
---I set up the new kernel in my boot loader (lilo) and rebooted my computer. However, when it boots, it hangs before it can load the modules. The odd thing is that it does this for both the new and old kernel. I'm able to get to my system from a boot disk, but I don't know what went wrong. I'm pretty new to linux so any help will be appreciated.
You mentioned you had RedHat 7.3 . Do a
gcc --version
and post back the response. Hint: 2.9(even) is REALLY bad. The 2.96 branch is a development compiler. Redhat just so happened to include that version on lots of Redhat cd's.
By the way, I'm currently compiling 2.5.59 on a machine along with 2 compiles of branch of 2.4.18. 1 stable is to see how small I can get the kernel , and the other is for my desktop. Please let Tek-Tips members know if their posts were helpful.