RH7.1 Post Install Kernel

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How/when is the post-install kernel generated?  Or, is there a generic
pre-compiled kernel somewhere on the installation that's used for all
platforms?

If it's a generic kernel used for all platforms, is there a .config
file somewhere that was used to generate this kernel?

I have a special box with limited devices and low memory:

  Cyrix CPU (pentium 166)
  32MB memory (some models only 16MB or 8MB)
  3-5GB disk
  ethernet card with boot ROM
  VGA
  no CD
  no floppy
  no mouse
  no battery for clock

I've converted the RH7.1 bootnet image into a bootp image and I'm able to
start the installation process using bootp.  My ks.cfg file does a clean
install using nfs and everything works fine.

The problem comes when I reboot the box for the first time (at the end of
the install) and boot the kernel.  It get's to the point where
/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit is running, just after mounting /proc then hangs.
I've tracked it down to where it's running /sbin/hwclock.

Rebooting with "linux init=/bin/bash" let me get in and manually run
/sbin/hwclock with --debug and it appears the RTC never responds.

I've discovered that if I rebuild the kernel with just the right settings
(and I haven't tracked down all the right settings yet), I can get it to
boot just fine.

When I started to compare stuff between my custom kernel and the
post-install kernel, I noticed the RTC driver is missing in my custom
kernel.  Running /sbin/hwclock ... --debug shows:

  hwclock 2.4c/util-linux-2.10s
  hwclock: Open of /dev/rtc failed, errno=19: No such device.
  Using direct I/O instructions to ISA clock.
  Assuming hardware clock is kept in UTC time.
  Waiting for clock tick...
  ... got clock tick
  <and continues fine and does it's job>

Doing "cat /proc/driver/rtc" fails with:

  cat: /proc/driver/rtc: No such file or directory

Which makes sense since the driver is not available.

Running /sbin/hwclock ... --debug on the post-install kernel shows:

  hwclock 2.4c/util-linux-2.10s
  Using /dev/rtc interface to clock.
  Assuming hardware clock is kept in UTC time.
  Waiting for clock tick...

At this point it just hangs.

Doing "cat /proc/driver/rtc" shows:

  rtc_time      : 00:03:09
  rtc_date      : 1988-01-01
  rtc_epoch     : 1900
  alarm         : 00:00:00
  DST_enable    : yes
  BCD           : yes
  24hr          : yes
  square_wave   : no
  alarm_IRQ     : no
  update_IRQ    : no
  periodic_IRQ  : no
  periodic_freq : 1024
  batt_status   : dead

All this is a bit beside the point, which is, how can I generate a custom
kernel which is used the first time the box is booted after the install??

And, is there a .config file associated with the post-install kernel?





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