kernel 2.3.99pre5 crash and ppp

[Ben Luey <lueyb@gridley.ACNS.Carleton.edu>]

I just downloaded kernel 2.3.99pre5 and recompiled my mandrake 7.0 box and
rebooted. It booted fine, but when I tried to start ppp0, it said it
failed. I checked the log and it was missing the modules. So I manually
loaded ppp_generic, and some others and ran it again and it dialed but the
connecting didn't work. The logs showed:

Apr 25 21:01:56 localhost pppd[866]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests

I then ran pppoff (just runs ifdown ppp0) which instantly crashed by
system. I was in X at the time, but I couldn't kill X or switch to a
terminal. So I rebooted, suffered  through hd tests and checked my logs
which just show that the modem redailed after the first filaure, and
calimed to work withouth LCP error and gets stopped on signal 15. The next
line is teh booting process.

What's up? Why did it crash? Why doesn't it load the mdules automatically
like it did for other stuff (sound card, etc) (yes, I checked). Do I need
a new ppp which teh module name is different (ppp_generic.o?) What does
this LCP error mean?

Also, in the bootup, it said it was using a 40mhz buz by default unless
otherwise changed at boot. I have a Asus-p5a ahd the ali chipset -- can I
get linux to use my 100mhz bus safely by just adding that line to lilo?

Thanks,

Ben