Problem with newly compiled kernel 2.6.39 (initrd.img not being created)

[ali@internetdog.org (Ali Bahar)]

On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 11:15:38PM +0530, Naman shekhar Mishra wrote:
> My platform is Intel 32 bit. 
> 
> I am using kernel 2.6.35-22 generic for these steps and the newly compiled kernel is 2.6.39
> 
> Here's my steps:

Typically, I precede with 'make mrproper', but AFAIK it won't make a
difference if you are compiling a brand new source tree, and doing so
_within_ it (ie without a separate build directory.)


> $make defconfig

I always go over the resulting .config anyway, to ensure -- though I
admit that that can be very time-consuming if you have not done it
before.


 
> $make -j2 CC="ccache gcc"
> $make modules
> #make modules_install
> #make install
> #update-grub
> 
> After these sequence of steps, I tried to boot into the new kernel and there was nothing (except for the blinking caps lock) .So I checked and there was no initrd.img in /boot. So I tried using mkinitranfs and it created the ramdisk and then I booted but still it won't work.
> Though I can boot into recovery mode but the shell prompt is strange like (initramfs)...

Typically, when I am getting an 'initramfs' shell-prompt, I have to
tackle issues other than mkinitramfs. The solution has (IIRC) always
been to add missing options in the .config file. The lines immediately
preceding the shell prompt give a hint as to where things (eg which
options) croaked!

later,
ali