vga is a kernel option to choose framebuffer resolution i guess. anybody to make sure?
can u check if u really compile the 2.4.20 one and its Makefile have 2.4.20 as version info, and u copy the new kenrel to /boot and run lilo to make it effective? if all steps are ok. then i can not understand this, unless u open a ssh shell on u linux and let me login into and have a look.