[RESOLVED] Fails to boot after loading kernel

[briansrapier]

I am in the process of installing Gentoo on a Fujitsu P Series Lifebook (2040). The basic install is complete, but upon reboot, the machine hangs after the "OK, booting the kernel" message.

After researching various sites I Googled up and the Tux Mobile site, I am still baffled. According to what almost everyone who has attempted the installation on this model states that the newer kernels work just fine. I have followed their advice and have disabled acpi and framebuffer in my kernel (plus a host of other things), but no matter what I do, I still hang after the kernel is loaded.

I have tried passing "noacpi/acpi=off/pci=noacpi", "udev", and "ide0=ata66 ide1=ata66" per the instructions, but to no avail. I am using the gentoo-sources to compile the kernel. Here is (most) of my .config:

CONFIG_X86=y
CONFIG_MMU=y
CONFIG_UID16=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_IOMAP=y
CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y
CONFIG_CLEAN_COMPILE=y
CONFIG_BROKEN_ON_SMP=y
CONFIG_LOCK_KERNEL=y
CONFIG_LOCALVERSION=""
CONFIG_SWAP=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y
CONFIG_SYSCTL=y
CONFIG_AUDIT=y
CONFIG_AUDITSYSCALL=y
CONFIG_LOG_BUF_SHIFT=14
CONFIG_HOTPLUG=y
CONFIG_KOBJECT_UEVENT=y
CONFIG_IKCONFIG=y
CONFIG_IKCONFIG_PROC=y
CONFIG_EMBEDDED=y
CONFIG_KALLSYMS=y
CONFIG_FUTEX=y
CONFIG_EPOLL=y
CONFIG_SHMEM=y
CONFIG_CC_ALIGN_FUNCTIONS=0
CONFIG_CC_ALIGN_LABELS=0
CONFIG_CC_ALIGN_LOOPS=0
CONFIG_CC_ALIGN_JUMPS=0
CONFIG_MODULES=y
CONFIG_MODULE_UNLOAD=y
CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_UNLOAD=y
CONFIG_OBSOLETE_MODPARM=y
CONFIG_KMOD=y
CONFIG_X86_VISWS=y
CONFIG_MCRUSOE=y
CONFIG_X86_GENERIC=y
CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG=y
CONFIG_X86_XADD=y
CONFIG_X86_L1_CACHE_SHIFT=7
CONFIG_RWSEM_XCHGADD_ALGORITHM=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_CALIBRATE_DELAY=y
CONFIG_X86_WP_WORKS_OK=y
CONFIG_X86_INVLPG=y
CONFIG_X86_BSWAP=y
CONFIG_X86_POPAD_OK=y
CONFIG_X86_INTEL_USERCOPY=y
CONFIG_HPET_TIMER=y
CONFIG_PREEMPT=y
CONFIG_PREEMPT_BKL=y
CONFIG_X86_LOCAL_APIC=y
CONFIG_X86_TSC=y
CONFIG_X86_MCE=y
CONFIG_X86_CPUID=y
CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y
CONFIG_HAVE_DEC_LOCK=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT_DETAILS=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y
CONFIG_X86_LONGRUN=y
CONFIG_X86_VISWS_APIC=y
CONFIG_PCI=y
CONFIG_PCI_DIRECT=y
CONFIG_PCI_NAMES=y
CONFIG_PCCARD=y
CONFIG_PCMCIA=m
CONFIG_CARDBUS=y
CONFIG_YENTA=m
CONFIG_PCCARD_NONSTATIC=m
CONFIG_BINFMT_ELF=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_AOUT=m
CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=m
CONFIG_STANDALONE=y
CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD=y
CONFIG_FW_LOADER=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_COUNT=16
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_SIZE=8192
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD=y
CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE=""
CONFIG_IOSCHED_NOOP=y
CONFIG_IOSCHED_CFQ=y
CONFIG_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y
CONFIG_IDE_GENERIC=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y
CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_GENERIC=y
CONFIG_SCSI=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=m
CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SPI_ATTRS=m
CONFIG_SCSI_QLA2XXX=m
CONFIG_IEEE1394=y
CONFIG_IEEE1394_OHCI1394=y
CONFIG_IEEE1394_SBP2=m
CONFIG_IEEE1394_DV1394=m
CONFIG_IEEE1394_RAWIO=m
CONFIG_NET=y
CONFIG_PACKET=y
CONFIG_UNIX=y
CONFIG_INET=y
CONFIG_IP_TCPDIAG=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_CONNTRACK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_CT_ACCT=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_CONNTRACK_MARK=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_CT_PROTO_SCTP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_FTP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_IRC=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TFTP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_QUEUE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_LIMIT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_IPRANGE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MAC=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_PKTTYPE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MARK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MULTIPORT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TOS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_RECENT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_ECN=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_DSCP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_AH_ESP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_LENGTH=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TTL=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TCPMSS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_HELPER=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_STATE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_CONNTRACK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_OWNER=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_ADDRTYPE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_REALM=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_SCTP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_COMMENT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_CONNMARK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_HASHLIMIT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_FILTER=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REJECT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_LOG=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_ULOG=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_TCPMSS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_NEEDED=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MASQUERADE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REDIRECT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_NETMAP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_SAME=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_SNMP_BASIC=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_IRC=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_FTP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_TFTP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MANGLE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_TOS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_ECN=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_DSCP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MARK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_CLASSIFY=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_CONNMARK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_CLUSTERIP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_RAW=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_NOTRACK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_ARPTABLES=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_ARPFILTER=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_ARP_MANGLE=m
CONFIG_NET_CLS_ROUTE=y
CONFIG_NET_PKTGEN=m
CONFIG_IRDA=m
CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y
CONFIG_DUMMY=m
CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET=y
CONFIG_MII=y
CONFIG_NET_PCI=y
CONFIG_8139CP=y
CONFIG_8139TOO=y
CONFIG_8139TOO_TUNE_TWISTER=y
CONFIG_8139TOO_8129=y
CONFIG_NET_RADIO=y
CONFIG_NET_WIRELESS=y
CONFIG_PPP=m
CONFIG_PPP_FILTER=y
CONFIG_PPP_ASYNC=m
CONFIG_PPP_SYNC_TTY=m
CONFIG_PPP_DEFLATE=m
CONFIG_PPP_BSDCOMP=m
CONFIG_PPPOE=m
CONFIG_SLIP=m
CONFIG_INPUT=y
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV=y
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_PSAUX=y
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_X=1024
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_Y=768
CONFIG_SOUND_GAMEPORT=y
CONFIG_SERIO=y
CONFIG_SERIO_I8042=y
CONFIG_SERIO_LIBPS2=y
CONFIG_INPUT_KEYBOARD=y
CONFIG_KEYBOARD_ATKBD=y
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSE=y
CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2=y
CONFIG_VT=y
CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_HW_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_SERIAL_8250=m
CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_CS=m
CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_NR_UARTS=4
CONFIG_SERIAL_CORE=m
CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y
CONFIG_LEGACY_PTYS=y
CONFIG_LEGACY_PTY_COUNT=256
CONFIG_AGP=y
CONFIG_AGP_ALI=y
CONFIG_FB=y
CONFIG_FB_VGA16=y
CONFIG_FB_VESA=y
CONFIG_FB_VESA_STD=y
CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y
CONFIG_FB_ATY=y
CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_FONTS=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x16=y
CONFIG_FONT_MINI_4x6=y
CONFIG_BACKLIGHT_LCD_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_BACKLIGHT_CLASS_DEVICE=m
CONFIG_BACKLIGHT_DEVICE=y
CONFIG_LCD_CLASS_DEVICE=m
CONFIG_LCD_DEVICE=y
CONFIG_FB_SPLASH=y
CONFIG_SPEAKUP_DEFAULT="n"
CONFIG_SOUND=y
CONFIG_SND=y
CONFIG_SND_TIMER=y
CONFIG_SND_PCM=y
CONFIG_SND_RAWMIDI=y
CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER=y
CONFIG_SND_OSSEMUL=y
CONFIG_SND_MIXER_OSS=y
CONFIG_SND_PCM_OSS=y
CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER_OSS=y
CONFIG_SND_MPU401_UART=y
CONFIG_SND_SERIAL_U16550=m
CONFIG_SND_MPU401=m
CONFIG_SND_AC97_CODEC=y
CONFIG_SND_ALI5451=y
CONFIG_USB=m
CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS=y
CONFIG_USB_ARCH_HAS_HCD=y
CONFIG_USB_ARCH_HAS_OHCI=y
CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=m
CONFIG_USB_OHCI_HCD=m
CONFIG_USB_UHCI_HCD=m
CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m
CONFIG_USB_HID=m
CONFIG_USB_HIDINPUT=y
CONFIG_USB_HIDDEV=y
CONFIG_USB_WACOM=m
CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR=y
CONFIG_JBD=y
CONFIG_FS_MBCACHE=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_FS=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_CHECK=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_PROC_INFO=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_FS_XATTR=y
CONFIG_JFS_FS=y
CONFIG_ROMFS_FS=y
CONFIG_INOTIFY=y
CONFIG_DNOTIFY=y
CONFIG_AUTOFS_FS=m
CONFIG_AUTOFS4_FS=m
CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y
CONFIG_ZISOFS=y
CONFIG_ZISOFS_FS=y
CONFIG_UDF_FS=y
CONFIG_UDF_NLS=y
CONFIG_FAT_FS=m
CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=m
CONFIG_VFAT_FS=m
CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_CODEPAGE=437
CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_IOCHARSET="iso8859-1"
CONFIG_NTFS_FS=m
CONFIG_PROC_FS=y
CONFIG_PROC_KCORE=y
CONFIG_SYSFS=y
CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=y
CONFIG_TMPFS=y
CONFIG_RAMFS=y
CONFIG_CRAMFS=y
CONFIG_SQUASHFS=y
CONFIG_NFS_FS=m
CONFIG_NFS_V3=y
CONFIG_NFSD=m
CONFIG_NFSD_V3=y
CONFIG_LOCKD=m
CONFIG_LOCKD_V4=y
CONFIG_EXPORTFS=m
CONFIG_SUNRPC=m
CONFIG_SMB_FS=m
CONFIG_CIFS=m
CONFIG_MSDOS_PARTITION=y
CONFIG_NLS=y
CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT="iso8859-1"
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_437=y
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_1=y
CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK=y
CONFIG_4KSTACKS=y
CONFIG_X86_FIND_SMP_CONFIG=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_MD5=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SHA1=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_DES=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_BLOWFISH=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_TWOFISH=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_ARC4=m
CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEFLATE=y
CONFIG_CRC_CCITT=m
CONFIG_CRC32=y
CONFIG_ZLIB_INFLATE=y
CONFIG_ZLIB_DEFLATE=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_HARDIRQS=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_IRQ_PROBE=y

Output of lspci -v:
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Transmeta Corporation LongRun Northbridge (rev 01)
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 110e
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Memory at fc100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]

0000:00:00.1 RAM memory: Transmeta Corporation SDRAM controller
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 110e
Flags: fast devsel

0000:00:00.2 RAM memory: Transmeta Corporation BIOS scratchpad
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 110e
Flags: fast devsel

0000:00:02.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 10a2
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
Memory at fc004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2

0000:00:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device (rev 01)
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 112f
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
I/O ports at 1000 [size=256]
Memory at fc005000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

0000:00:06.0 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 10a3
Flags: medium devsel

0000:00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV]
Subsystem: ALi Corporation ALI M1533 Aladdin IV ISA Bridge
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 1

0000:00:0c.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 10c6
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 9
Memory at 0f100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=04, sec-latency=176
Memory window 0: 0f400000-0f7ff000 (prefetchable)
Memory window 1: 0f800000-0fbff000
I/O window 0: 00004000-000040ff
I/O window 1: 00004400-000044ff
16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

0000:00:0f.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c3) (prog-if fa)
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 10a4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32
I/O ports at 1800 [size=16]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2

0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 111c
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 9
I/O ports at 8000 [size=256]
Memory at fc007800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

0000:00:13.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 1162
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 9
Memory at fc007000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Memory at fc000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

0000:00:14.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage Mobility P/M (rev 64) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Fujitsu Limited.: Unknown device 1103
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 66, IRQ 9
Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
I/O ports at 1400 [size=256]
Memory at fc006000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [5c] Power Management version 1

[RayDude]

No panic? No error message?

Are you sure you have grub or lilo configured correctly?

My experience has been that if you have the architecture correct, the kernel will usually load and cough blood if something is seriously wrong with it. No message and a hang is usually due to a boot failure. It has something to do with lilo or grub.

Can you post lilo.conf or grub.conf?

Raydude
_________________
Some day there will only be free software.

[briansrapier]

Nope. No runs, no bats, no errors...

My grub.conf is pretty textbook in nature:

default 0
timeout 5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2005.0 - 2.6.11-gentoo-r8
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.11-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/hda3 init=/linuxrc
initrd /initrd-2.6.11-gentoo-r8

I used genkernel to build the new kernel from gentoo-sources. The only thing that was flaky was that /linuxrc was missing following the build. I had to copy it from the gentoo dir in /usr/share. I double checked and it is executable.

B

[taurus]

What happens if you remove "root=/dev/ram0" from the kernel entry and add "udev" at the end of it...

[briansrapier]

Before, nothing different...

However, I started thinking (and everybody knows that's when all h3ll breaks loose), "why can it boot the default kernel from the cd, but not my custom kernel?" So I booted off cd once more and used the configuration from /proc/config.gz and rebuilt the kernel once more changing only the specific drivers I needed (crusoe cpu, ati mobility video, etc). I rebooted and the kernel loaded, but after running the linuxrc script, it halts for the "invalid root device" message that appears to be so common.

I messed with it for a few hours and I think I've given up. I've tried everything I can think of to get Gentoo up and running, but haven't been able to. I know it can be done, I just don't have the time to mess with it any longer.

I had loaded Fedora (FC3) on it previously, but decided to move to Gentoo because:

A) Fedora's generic drivers were slowing it down (could only configure the 133 Mhz bus as 33 Mhz (ouch!))
B) We are using Gentoo as the OS of choice for FW, DNS, etc, and I wanted to become a little more fluent with it.

I wish I had more time to invest because I have been really impressed with it thus far.

[RayDude]

[briansrapier]

I had run into the issue of compiling the hdd driver as a module on the first box I build using Gentoo. This time I was certain that I did not. I went through the output of lspci -vv and dmesg with a fine tooth comb to ensure that I picked out the proper settings for the kernel build.

The partitions are pretty simple. I'm using a Toshiba ATA 20gb drive that has been partitioned into a 100mb /boot sector, formatted as linux, with an ext2 filesystem. The second is a 512mb linux swap partition, and the last is a linux partition with / being a reiserfs filesystem. Almost as simple as you can get...

I am pretty certain that I am missing something in the kernel config. Seems like everytime I tweak something in the kernel, the error changes, sometimes for the better, usually for the worse. As of Friday, the failure to recognise the disk has been the farthest I've gotten to having this thing working to date.

According to the various sites dealing specifically with this laptop, the latest versions of Gentoo, RH (Fedora), Debian, and BSD all have the capability of supporting this thing out of the box.

B

[RayDude]

[briansrapier]

RESOLVED. I finally got it to boot this morning. A combination of kernel config errors and grub errors. I'll try to post my notes in a day or so for future reference.

Thanks for the assistance.

Brian

[Nargule]

[briansrapier]

Essentially, what I did was follow the x86 handbook in it's entirety. The saving grace was the step where you prepare for building the kernel and copy the initial kernel config into the /usr/src/linux directory to use as the basis for beginning the build.

# zcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/src/linux/.config

When I did the kernel build, using genkernel, I used

# genkernel --menuconfig --udev all

In the menu, I only changed the processor type and nothing else (the first time around). Yes, the kernel is rather bulky, but it will give you a solid foundation to start with and you can save that kernel once it proves bootable and try adding and removing other pieces later. For instance, I went back and chopped out a lot of the vendor specific driver support for video and networking, and added in support for netfilter.

The second mistake I made was a typo in grub.conf. Here's what my grub.conf looks like:

default 0
timeout 5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.11-r9 kernel
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.11-gentoo-r9 root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/sda3 udev vga=0x318
initrd /initrd-2.6.11-gentoo-r9

Pretty much textbook...

I should note that I used the 'gentoo-sources' when I built my kernel. At this time, I'm using the box I built as my workstation at work. I have a variety of tools installed and I am using Gnome for my desktop and have a large number of networking tools, not to mention grip and gtkpod to manage my music.

I'd be happy to get more specific if you need...

[Nargule]