New Kernels - nothing but black screen, "W" and frozen computer

[David Wadson]

OldWorld Power Mac 4400 currently running YDL 3.0 (2.4.20-8d) -  
installed very nicely from a set of CDs using the graphical installer.

In order to take advantage of some advanced routing for redundant  
internet connections (www.lartc.org), I need to recompile the kernel  
with IP Adanced Routing enabled. Every attempt at doing so using a  
variety of different Kernel (OldWorld SCSI, YDL, Benh, etc.) has been a  
failure so far. While the whole configuration and compiling process  
seems to be working fine, I am unable to get the machine to boot the  
kernel in any fashion.

After copying the vmlinux and System.map files to /boot, I tar the  
vmlinux file and FTP it onto a Mac server. Had I known about this  
compiling mumbo-jumbo earlier, I wouldn't have formatted the  
BootX/MacOS partition as HFS+. D'oh! Anyways, I boot into the MacOS,  
untar the vmlinux file with Stuffit Expander and drop it into the Linux  
Kernels folder. In BootX, I specify that new Kernel...and....

The screen goes totally black, a single letter "W" is displayed in the  
upper right of the machine and the machine totally and completely  
freezes. Nothing happening at all on the hard drive and the machine  
won't soft reset using the 3-finger salute. Instead I have to kill the  
power to the box.

After wasting a couple days trying to compile a variety of 2.4.x  
kernels, I tried to use the precompiled  2.4.25-ben1  
(http://www.ppckernel.org/download/ydl-2.4/linux-ydl-2.4-2.4.25- 
ben1.tar.gz) and it does exactly the same thing - black screen, "W" and  
freeze.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Anything I've been reading about  
troubleshooting compiles involve deciphering the boot messages that pop  
up but I don't get anything (other than a "W" - that's a little vague!)

Dave Wadson
IT Manager
The Chronicle-Journal