Cannot use UUID with self-compiled kernel (Hardy)

[Mumia W.]

Hello. I'm having a problem with a self-compiled kernel. I can't use 
UUID to specify my root partition; however, using "root=/dev/sda8" 
works. When I try to boot using the UUID, I get this:

 > VFS: Cannot open root device "xxxxx" or unknown-block(0,0)

That's somewhat annoying as you can imagine. I triple-checked to be sure 
that my kernel contains everything needed to boot. Here is the boot 
stanza that fails (with the UUID value removed):

 > title        Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.26-beamer1
 > root        (hd0,7)
 > kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-beamer1 root=UUID=[...] ro quiet 
splash
 > quiet

However, this boot stanza succeeds:

 > title        Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.26-beamer1
 > root        (hd0,7)
 > kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-beamer1 root=/dev/sda8 ro
 > boot

It's the UUID that's failing, but I can't find where I can enable UUID's 
in my kernel. Note that I'm not using an initrd--everything should be 
compiled into the kernel.

Here is my config file:

http://home.earthlink.net/~mumia.w.18.spam/docs/uuid.config.txt

I'm using the kernel from kernel.org compiled for i386. I'm so close; 
please help me get UUIDs working the way they should.