boot problem after recent kernel update

[Paul S]

Paul Kaplan said the following on 12/21/2007 05:50 AM:
> I installed a sanctioned kernel update the other day.  After updating, one of 
> my systems hangs immediately after the grub screen disappears, but only if I 
> try to boot in normal mode.  If I boot in recovery mode, everything is 
> normal.  The other machine boots fine in normal mode.
> 
> Any ideas what the problem is?

When you boot into recovery, "cd /var/log" and "/usr/bin/less dpkg.log". 
Scroll down to the installation that killed you and compare the list 
with the list on your working computer.  Make sure there's no error 
messages or failed installs or failed configurations.  If there are, you 
can try reinstalling with "/usr/bin/aptitude full-upgrade" or 
"/usr/bin/aptitude reinstall <failed package name>".  If there are no 
errors, try "/usr/bin/aptitude full-upgrade" just to see what it does. 
If nothing, then just for the heck of it, try "/sbin/depmod -a"  and see 
if that gets you going.

If not, then in the recovery console, look in other /var/log files like 
messages, syslog, kernlog, dmesg and others to see if any error message 
shows from the failed boot.  If so, type them into a google search on 
your other computer and hope to find some help.

Also, take a look at the changelog on your working pc and see if any of 
the updates might have effected your particular pc.

The good news for you is that the old kernel is still available in the 
repos, so you can use the recovery console to go back:

/usr/bin/aptitude install linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic=2.6.22-14.46

For future reference, you can check what's in the repos with the 
"apt-cache policy" command, i.e.

paul :~$ apt-cache policy linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic
linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic:
   Installed: 2.6.22-14.47
   Candidate: 2.6.22-14.47
   Version table:
  *** 2.6.22-14.47 0
         500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com gutsy-updates/main Packages
         500 http://security.ubuntu.com gutsy-security/main Packages
         100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
      2.6.22-14.46 0
         500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com gutsy/main Packages

If your only success works with rolling back, then you'll want to forbid 
the particularly bad version "aptitude forbid-version 
linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic=2.6.22-14.47" might work, if you always 
use the command line for updating.  Also, be sure to file a bug report 
on launchpad to alert the devs of your problem.

regard,
another Paul