Rebuild the kernel

1. Download the kernel from http://www.kernel.org
tar xvzf linux-x.y.z.tar.gz
Read the READ me file at the root directory.

2. make menuconfig

3. make modules_install

4. make install

5. modify grub configuration file /boot/grub/menu.lst if it is not modified by step 4.

6. reboot and select the new kernel

title SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5
initrd /boot/initrd

The initial ramdisk, or initrd is a temporary file system commonly used by the Linux kernel during boot. The initrd is typically used for making preparations before the real root file system can be mounted.