strange kernel problem??

[John A. Smolin]

On my 770X I compiled a kernel to leave out a lot
of kruft I wasn't using and to make sound work
(though I later found sound works fine with the
kernel I started with).  The system is RedHat6.0
by the way.

Anyway, the new kernel worked fine for a while
and then stopped booting for no reason.  I still
don't know why, but the only thing I changed 
at any point between when it worked and when
it failed was that I attempted to install star office,
which failed for unknown reasons as well.

Recompiling the kernel didn't work, so I changed
some of the modules and stuff in the configuraration
and recompiled again.  Now it boots and runs fine
except for a single strange bug:  The transparent
window drag feature in enlightenment doesn't work,
it comes through as opaque.  This is no biggie, but
makes me worry somewhere something else is wrong.
I can't figure why enlightenment would care
about any of the modules in the kernel, assuming
the system and x windows are up and running.
When I go back to my original redhat6.0 kernel
all is well.  Very strange.  Anyone have any ideas?

Oh, as far as sound is concerned it works fine,
but I have to run sndconfig every time I boot.
Is there a way to avoid this step?

Thanks,

John