Sorry for asking the obvious, but have you succeeded in compiling grsecurity before?
Did you try compiling a vanilla kernel?
Does it have the same problems or do the problems start after applying the grsecurity patches?
Generally when I install a fresh system I usually install the kernelsources supplied by the distribution if only to install all the necessary tools like gcc and ncurses. I only apply the patches on kernels downloaded from
http://www.kernel.org because one can't predict what patches have been applied by the distribution already.
After the proper tools are installed the kernelsources themselfes are off course superfluous. Advantage of using the provided tools in the package is obviously the advatage of them being included in the (security-) updates.
