boot problem with custom kernel

["Robert D. Crawford" <rdc1x@comcast.net>]

I am running sid on a thinkpad t40.  I've been using the powertop
utility to check on power consumption and needed to install a custom
kernel with a few patches.  Here is the process I went through:

1.  d/l the sources for 2.6.22-rc1 from kernel.org

2.  d/l the patches from the powertop site, making sure that I fetched
the patch for the  correct kernel.

3.  mv the sources and patches to the  /usr/src directory

4. tar xjvf linux-2.6.22-rc1.tar.bz2 

5.  ln -s linux-2.6.22-rc1 linux

6.  cd linux

7.  patch -p1 < ../kernel-2.6.22-rc1.patch 

8.  patch -p1 < ../hpet_patches_45.patch 

9.  cp /boot/config-2.6.21-1-686 .config

10.  make oldconfig

11.  make-kpkg  clean  

12.  make-kpkg --append-to-version=.powertop kernel_image

13.  dpkg -i
.../linux-image-2.6.22-rc1.powertop_2.6.22-rc1.powertop-10.00.Custom_i386.deb 

by the way, I am not sure why this filename is so long.  They did not
used to be this long, but it has been a while since I have built a
custom kernel.

14.  cd /boot ; depmod -v 2.6.22-rc1.powertop 

15.  mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd-img-2.6.22-rc1.powertop
2.6.22-rc1.powertop

16. update-grub

17.  reboot

At this point, I get 

kernel panic - not syncing: vfs

and something about not being able to mount the root device.  I cannot
remember the whole message and cannot find something to write with that
will write large enough I can read it (I am legally blind).  If I need
to post the whole error I can find someone that can help me to copy it
down.  

Is there something I have missed here?  I have built both with and
without the patches from powertop and get the same error.

Thanks for your help,
rdc
-- 
Robert D. Crawford                                      rdc1x@comcast.net

It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens.
		-- Woody Allen