Linux Guru Needed !!!

[Ranger One]

RedHat 8.0 installed > need to compile kernel to load the IEEE1394 & SBP2 modules at boot so I can use my firewire hd & dvd rom. This works right out of the box woth Mandrake 9.0.
I used RedHat update >upgraded to 2.4.18-17.8.0 kernel > installed itself including boot configuration.

Three partitions /boot & / (Ext3) & swap.

I do the following : cd /usr/src/linux-2.4 >
make mrproper
copy the config 2.4.18-17.8.0 file from /boot to /usr/src/linux-2.4 > rename it to .config.
make xconfig > go thru each category >check the config file to make sure CONFIG_SCSI=m, CONFIG_IEEE1394=m are listed
make dep
make clean
Edit Makefile for new version
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
make install > I use Grub as the bootloader

I check the /boot folder > the original vmlinuz file is 3mb EXECUTABLE.
The new vmlinux is smaller > says unknown instead of Executable.
New Initrd image is created without a problem.

Of course when I reboot into the new kernel I either get all the way to kernel panic > no init found or "file system is ext2fs part type 0x83 > error 13 : invalid or unsupported executable format"

WHAT AM I MISSING ???

I really want to learn how to do this correctly > I've tried doing this several times > tried comparing the config file to Mandrake 9.0 > nothing works.

Help !!!!!!!

[KungFuHamster]

It looks like you forgot to compile ext2 support into the kernel. Check your config and see if it's there.