I am trying to build the beta10a kernal. I have download the corss compiler on the LART site and am using this. everything seems to compile ok, but after uploading the new image the kernal crashes. is this the sort of trouble you had.
Also when doing a make menuconfig, are the pre-selected options correct, or do I need to enable extra functions?

The defaults should be OK, but check "General Setup" -> "Initial kernel command string". Check that it says "mak", I had initially something else in there and it made the kernel to crash when it was creating swap disk.

If you still have problems, e-mail me, and I can send you my .config file.

Kim