[Resolved] Re: [hardy] 2.6.24-27-generic +kernel panic

[NoOp]

On 03/30/2010 06:00 PM, NoOp wrote:
> On 03/30/2010 05:52 PM, Goh Lip wrote:
>> On 03/31/2010 04:09 AM, NoOp wrote:
>>> Was upgrading a customer's hardy today remotely w/the latest security
>>> upgrades&  after the upgrades completed she reported a kernel panic. Had
>>> her try recovery mode: same result.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately her grub is only showing the one kernel (2.6.24-27-generic
>>> - (2.6.24-27.68))&  keyboard is not working properly in grub, so I can't
>>> get her to edit&  change to -26. She's bringing the system by so I can
>>> fix it, but wondered if anyone else has experienced the same.
>> 
<snips>
> Got it sorted out. Didn't bother looking at the logs to see why the
> upgrade from -26 to -27 borked. But I did manage to get in to the
> console, purge -27, boot to -26, reinstall -27, update-initramfs, etc.,
> etc. All is well again, but I wish I would have had more time to dig in
> and find out the reason it screwed up. The only thing that was done for
> the upgrade was to use the standard update manger. If I get time later
> I'll ssh into the machine & have a look at the logs.

Added data points:

1. There wasn't anything wrong with the customer's keyboard... only with
the remote troubleshooter's head. Instead of fireing up a hardy test
machine with grub1, I instead just rebooted my laptop to hardy. The big
"duh" there is that the laptop has grub2 & when I'd intruct her to edit
the -27 lines, the right arrow didn't work. Well of course, in grub1 you
need 'e' to edit, move to the line (up/down arrow key) and then hit 'e'
again to edit that line. In grub2 you only have to do the first 'e',
move to the line, right arrow, and edit. When the machine arrived I
immediately saw *my* error.

  So, lesson learned... next time I'll boot the grub1 machine.

2. Because this is a former Mac user w/no computer experience (other
than using the apps), I'd previously configured her grub to only show
the latest kernel in order to make it easier for her. Had I configured
it to show 2 kernels instead, I could have easily just had her select
the -26 kernel from the menu. Needless to say, I configured for 2
kernels before I returned the machine to her. So shame on me :-(
sometimes more options are better.