apm support

I am currently running suse 7.3 on a compaq pressario 1700 xl 569..I can't make advanced power management to work on my laptop..I have compiled a kernel with apm enabled and have installed the apmd daemon...Nevertheless when asked, the kernel I use (along with the orgiginal suse one) does not seem to have apm enabled/integrated into it ...I have read the man pages but cannot figure out why I cannot use apm..Any advice would be appreciated