[newbie] compiling 2.2.17 kernel

[spider]

i have made many attempts and reinstalled many times attempting to get the 2.2.17 kernel to compile under Mandrake Corp. 7.1. when i "make bzImage" it goes through most of the process, then i get the following error:   make [1]: as86 : command not found make [1]: *** [bbootsect.o] error 127 make [1]: leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-2.2.17/arch/i386/boot' make: [bzImage] Error 2   i have had similiar problems trying to use newer kernels and distributions. i pretty much NEED this kernel, as it seems that support for my Realtek 8129 ethernet card has been discontinued in the newer kernels. nor can i get my usb mouse to work with the newer ones.   when i was taught to how recompile, i was using Slackware 8 with the 2.2.19 kernel and told to use "make xconfig..... make dep && make modules && make modules_install && make bzImage". when that didnt work, i read up on what i could find online and found some using "make bzImage" before doing "make modules". neither method has worked for me.   is there something wrong with the steps i'm taking? is there something wrong with the kernel?