Kernel compile

Not sure if this is the correct newsgroup, if not can you direct me to
the right one?

I am trying to compile my kernel for RH7.3. It doesn't generate any
errors, but it fails to find/load eth0 and vfat. It won't go past
starting system logger and has many no such file or directory statements

after the first fail which is eth0.

Is there a way to set the make xconfig back to a default or what the
original kernel on my system is? I can still boot with the original
kernel but not the new one.

Please help I'm an extreme newbie.