[Bug 31126] Kernel panic after installation of linux-386 [Dapper]

[Erich Pawlik]

Public bug reported:
https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/31126

Affects: linux-meta linux-386 (Ubuntu)
       Severity: Normal
       Priority: (none set)
         Status: Unconfirmed

Description:
After upgrading to version 2.6.15.14, the system halted during the boot
process after displaying the following messages:

[4294668.836000] RAMDISK: ran out of compressed data
[4294668.836000] invalid compressed format (err=1)
[4294668.867000] Kernel panic
[4294668.867000]

It was possible to boot the previous kernel version.

Diagnosis:

The problem appears to be a problem of the kernel update procedure. I
have a small boot partition which did run out of disk space. The problem
could be fixed by removing some older kernel versions left over from
previous kernel updates, editing /boot/grub/menu.lst and reinstalling
version 2.16.15.14.

I feel its a good feature to have the latest working kernel available in
case of problems with kernel updates. However, I feel it is approbriate
to remove older kernel versions during the update process. Collecting
old kernels forever also means that the position of entries in
/boot/grub/menu.lst changes after each update this is annoying if you
are by default booting another operating system.