Ubuntu won't boot after kernel 2.6.32-24 update (sticks on boot initramfs)

**Tabo58** · September 4th, 2010

Tried this:

from a Live CD

cd /boot
- sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.32-24-generic (enter)

Response is:

update-initramfs is disabled since running on read only media

Not giving up yet, I did remove grub-pc and installed grub and tried, (hey I'm so new I'm still in shrink-wrap).. and tried both from terminal after booting into grub with shift key same msg, then with Live CD and yet another fail.

back to grub-pc, for me I'm not so sure of the difference between the two.

Not giving in just yet, but further searching for something else to try has me empty handed.

only kernel 2.6.32-24-generic and a single partition drive.

Still having fun, but am hopeful I can move on soon

Question: When I do use shift to boot into grub, I do get this msg

Ubuntu is running in low-graphics mode
The following error was encountered. You may need to update your configuration to solve this.

(EE) NVIDIA (O): Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module!
(EE) NVIDIA *** Aborting ***
(EE) Screen(s) found. but none have usable configuration.

This is probably a separate issue and if so, low priority. Graphic's still very crisp and clear

I have moved on and tried the suggestions found at

http://ubuntugenius.wordpress.com/20...re-you-reboot/

May help some of you who like me are still struggling with this problem. After I followed the instructions my error has changed to:

Check rootdelay=
Check root
Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
Alert! /dev/disk/by-uuid/4f517d2e-22c0-421a-86e9-97be9523720e does not exist. Dropping to shell!

busyBox v1.13.3 ubuntu 1:1.13.3-1ubuntu11

my GNU GRUB v 1.98-1ubuntu7

Can still boot thru holding shift down and selecting kernel, so no better off, worse off ?

**Francis 24/24** · September 5th, 2010

It's very helpful to have a workaround which, more or less easily, works for several persons,but I would prefer the bug to be fixed and the update
to run smoothly.
Is the bug assigned to someone ?
Cheers !

**virsto** · September 5th, 2010

Originally Posted by StewartM

Here is something I am being told by some friends. Not had been home yet to try it out (but you can try to do so).

"If the “apt-get upgrade” does not successfully complete then a flag is set and update-initramfs does not get to run, hence grub gets all messed up. You should be able to boot using the old kernel and then run the sudo update-initramfs –u -k command. Then run sudo dpkg –reconfigure. That should clear the upgrade flags and fix any broken packages."

If it does work, please post it.

StewartM

I believe that I am having the same problem with 32-24. Could you please be a little more specific on the commands I need to execute to recover from this mess.

**virsto** · September 5th, 2010

Originally Posted by virsto

I believe that I am having the same problem with 32-24. Could you please be a little more specific on the commands I need to execute to recover from this mess.

This is what happens on my system.

Code:

sudo dpkg -reconfigure
dpkg: conflicting actions -e (--control) and -r (--remove)

Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages [*];
Use `dselect' or `aptitude' for user-friendly package management;
Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values;
Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options;
Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files;
Type dpkg --license for copyright license and lack of warranty (GNU GPL) [*].

Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through `less' or `more' !

**necrosymbiont** · September 7th, 2010

Originally Posted by StewartM

1) Boot the computer. Hold down the "shift" key when it's booting.

2) You will enter Grub 2. It should show you the list of kernels on your system. Select the one before 2.6.32-24. (Don't choose a "recovery mode" option.

3) Boot your system--it should boot normally.

4) Run from the terminal:

sudo update-initramfs –u -k 2.6.32-24-generic

(assuming that is the problem kernel for you. You can always check your kernel by typing "uname-r")

5) Reboot

This did not work for me until I used the suggestion from this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1427204

Namely,

Use the shift key when booting to obtain the grub menu and choose a bootable kernel, as previously described.
Run
Code:
```
dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-image
```
to get a list of packages to choose from for the next step.
Run
Code:
```
sudo apt-get install --reinstall [choice of packages]
```
Just reinstall the problematic ones, and in particular I suspect it would be a bad idea to reinstall the safe one you are currently booted into.
Run
Code:
```
sudo update-grub
```
Reboot

Note that after reinstalling the linux-image packages, apt-get appears to run update-initramfs automatically. Therefore, these steps could be seen as subsuming StewartM's fix.

**Francis 24/24** · September 8th, 2010

For those who have not yet installed the last updates, or went back to this
state, as I did, here is how to save time and efforts :

- install updates with Update Manager as usual

- DO NOT accept to reboot right now

- as root :

# cd /boot
# sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.32-24-386
# sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.32-24-generic

- reboot

Worked fine for me.

Cheers !

**StewartM** · September 8th, 2010

Originally Posted by Tabo58

Tried this:

from a Live CD

cd /boot
- sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.32-24-generic (enter)

Response is:

update-initramfs is disabled since running on read only media

Sorry, I did not flesh that out (it was from an email from a friend). Here may be a better description of what you need to do (Sorry, I've not tried it, been consumed by work of late):

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=157250

Let's say your system just melted down after an upgrade, or your new kernel won't boot. You can't fix the problem with apt-get, because you can't even get to a command line; the kernel just spews out errors and hangs on bootup. Thankfully, with a live cd, you can repair your system and get it up and running. You have 2 options for the live cd: Knoppix or the Ubuntu live cd. Since Knoppix generally has better hardware detection, this will be used as an example.
First, download the iso from http://www.knoppix.org/ and burn it to a disk.
Get your BIOS set up to boot from the cd, pop in the Knoppix disk, and boot.
Your hard drive should show up on the KDE desktop as hda1 or sdb2 or something, depending on your system.
Click on it to mount it, then right-click, actions -> change to read-write mode. It'll pop open a dialog; click yes.
Now, open a root terminal, found in the Knoppix menu (the one next to the K on the panel).
Enter: chroot /mnt/hda1 or whatever the icon for your harddrive says on the desktop.
You can now use all the commands on the hard drive, including apt-get.
If you ever get this error: /dev/null: Permission denied, do this: rm /dev/null and it should go away.
Now, use apt-get to upgrade your kernel (apt-get install linux-386) (or whatever processor you're using), udev (apt-get install udev), or anything else that's messing up your system.
Reboot, and enjoy your newly rescued system!

If your problem is that you can't write to your HD with the LiveCD, this seems to be a way of fixing that.

StewartM

**StewartM** · September 8th, 2010

Originally Posted by necrosymbiont

This did not work for me until I used the suggestion from this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1427204

Namely,

Use the shift key when booting to obtain the grub menu and choose a bootable kernel, as previously described.
Run
Code:
```
dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-image
```
to get a list of packages to choose from for the next step.
Run
Code:
```
sudo apt-get install --reinstall [choice of packages]
```
Just reinstall the problematic ones, and in particular I suspect it would be a bad idea to reinstall the safe one you are currently booted into.
Run
Code:
```
sudo update-grub
```
Reboot

Note that after reinstalling the linux-image packages, apt-get appears to run update-initramfs automatically. Therefore, these steps could be seen as subsuming StewartM's fix.

Thank you! I posted some shorthand versions in my original post, this fleshes them out.

StewatM

**StewartM** · September 8th, 2010

Originally Posted by Francis 24/24

It's very helpful to have a workaround which, more or less easily, works for several persons,but I would prefer the bug to be fixed and the update
to run smoothly.
Is the bug assigned to someone ?
Cheers !

Anyone can submit it via Launchpad. Obviously, not everyone who runs this kernel update is hitting this problem, so there may be a hardware or software commonality among us all.

StewartM