hand-rolled kernels sometimes work, sometimes not

[Colin Law]

On 25 December 2010 20:47, Robert P. J. Day <rpjday at crashcourse.ca> wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Dec 2010, Colin Law wrote:
>
>> On 25 December 2010 17:47, Robert P. J. Day <rpjday at crashcourse.ca> wrote:
>> >
>> >  ok, things just got worse.  i went back and selected the latest
>> > ubuntu-supplied kernel -- 2.6.35-23-generic -- and *that* one failed
>> > as well.  early in the boot process, i got a *very* brief glimpse of
>> > something like "i915 graphics turbo disabled" or something like that,
>> > after which total darkness. so i'm now in the position of having what
>> > looks like precisely *one* working kernel, which i rolled myself and
>> > which works for no reason that i know of (and which is the kernel i'm
>> > running right now).
>>
>> Do the logs tell you anything?
>
>  ok, based on a brief flash of a message on the display before it
> went totally blank early in the boot sequence, i'm currently googling
> on "failed to get i915 symbols" and "ubuntu":
>
> http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&biw=1011&bih=718&q=%22failed+to+get+i915+symbols%22+ubuntu&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=f&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=9000686101e0b807
>
> i still don't understand why my rc5 kernel is working and the rc7 one
> isn't.

Is there nothing in syslog?

Have you tried the recovery mode boot?

Colin