Update Kernel

I've found the easiest way to upgrade the kernel on a Red Hat machine is download the latest Kernel RPM from Red Hat or one of the mirror sites. You'll also need the kernel-headers rpm.

If you want to use the Linus kernel (such as the 2.4.17 kernel), you'll need to compile from source. . .

Red Hat's howto:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.2-Manual/custom-guide/custom-kernel.html

If you downloaded tar.gz source try this:

"tar zxfv linux-2.4.17.tar.gz
cd linux
make mrproper
make menuconfig (or make config)
make dep
make modules
make modules_install"
and finally
"make install"

This works for me, hope it works foryou.