Major issues with recent kernels > 5.8.0-31

[vleermuis]

it is strange. did you maybe add some driver PPA or patch kernel with driver?

Umm no, I don't see any specific PPA for the nvidia drivers, I guess I installed them the "regular" way. What do you mean by "patch kernel with driver"?

Another kernel update came in today... The next reboot will show if history repeats.

[vleermuis]

History repeats indeed - just got a fresh update to 5.8.0-40 yesterday and guess what - same issues. I don't think I should have to manually install these module-extra and headers packages for each new kernel update.
Any ideas?

[Impavidus]

Indeed, you shouldn't need to. AFAIK, the image package and the modules-extra package are pulled in by the same metapackage, so something funny must be happening. Let's look at a list of all of those packages you've installed:

dpkg --list | grep 'linux-' | grep -v '^rc'

[vleermuis]

Sure, let's have a look:

$ dpkg --list | grep 'linux-' | grep -v '^rc' 
ii  binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu                       2.35.1-1ubuntu1                             amd64        GNU binary utilities, for x86-64-linux-gnu target 
ii  linux-base                                      4.5ubuntu4                                  all          Linux image base package 
ii  linux-firmware                                  1.190.2                                     all          Firmware for Linux kernel drivers 
ii  linux-generic                                   5.8.0.31.36                                 amd64        Complete Generic Linux kernel and headers 
ii  linux-headers-5.8.0-31                          5.8.0-31.33                                 all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.8.0 
ii  linux-headers-5.8.0-31-generic                  5.8.0-31.33                                 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-headers-5.8.0-38-generic                  5.8.0-38.43~20.04.1                         amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-headers-5.8.0-40-generic                  5.8.0-40.45~20.04.1                         amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-headers-generic                           5.8.0.31.36                                 amd64        Generic Linux kernel headers 
ii  linux-hwe-5.8-headers-5.8.0-38                  5.8.0-38.43~20.04.1                         all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.8.0 
ii  linux-hwe-5.8-headers-5.8.0-40                  5.8.0-40.45~20.04.1                         all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.8.0 
ii  linux-image-5.3.0-23-generic                    5.3.0-23.25                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic 
ii  linux-image-5.8.0-31-generic                    5.8.0-31.33                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic 
ii  linux-image-5.8.0-38-generic                    5.8.0-38.43~20.04.1                         amd64        Signed kernel image generic 
ii  linux-image-5.8.0-40-generic                    5.8.0-40.45~20.04.1                         amd64        Signed kernel image generic 
ii  linux-image-generic                             5.8.0.31.36                                 amd64        Generic Linux kernel image 
ii  linux-libc-dev:amd64                            5.8.0-31.33                                 amd64        Linux Kernel Headers for development 
ii  linux-modules-5.3.0-23-generic                  5.3.0-23.25                                 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.3.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-modules-5.8.0-31-generic                  5.8.0-31.33                                 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-modules-5.8.0-38-generic                  5.8.0-38.43~20.04.1                         amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-modules-5.8.0-40-generic                  5.8.0-40.45~20.04.1                         amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-modules-extra-5.3.0-23-generic            5.3.0-23.25                                 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.3.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-modules-extra-5.8.0-31-generic            5.8.0-31.33                                 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-modules-extra-5.8.0-38-generic            5.8.0-38.43~20.04.1                         amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-modules-extra-5.8.0-40-generic            5.8.0-40.45~20.04.1                         amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP 
ii  linux-modules-nvidia-455-generic-hwe-20.04-edge 5.8.0-40.45~20.04.1                         amd64        Extra drivers for nvidia-455 for the generic flavour (dummy transitional package) 
ii  linux-modules-nvidia-460-5.8.0-38-generic       5.8.0-38.43~20.04.1                         amd64        Linux kernel nvidia modules for version 5.8.0-38 
ii  linux-modules-nvidia-460-5.8.0-40-generic       5.8.0-40.45~20.04.1                         amd64        Linux kernel nvidia modules for version 5.8.0-40 
ii  linux-modules-nvidia-460-generic-hwe-20.04-edge 5.8.0-40.45~20.04.1                         amd64        Extra drivers for nvidia-460 for generic-hwe-20.04-edge 
ii  linux-sound-base                                1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu5                        all          base package for ALSA and OSS sound systems

[Impavidus]

OK, your linux-generic, linux-headers-generic and linux-image-generic are all there, but are stuck at version 5.8.0.31. Normally those are the packages that pull in the new kernel. In your case, the new kernel (linux-image-5.8.0-41-generic) is pulled in by linux-modules-nvidia-460-hwe-20.04-generic-edge, but this doesn't pull in the linux-modules-extra-*-generic package.

So the thing to do is to get linux-generic unstuck. What do you get from

apt-cache policy linux-generic linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic

[vleermuis]

Yeah seems like it...

$ apt-cache policy linux-generic linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic 
linux-generic: 
  Installed: 5.8.0.31.36 
  Candidate: 5.8.0.31.36 
  Version table: 
 *** 5.8.0.31.36 100 
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 
     5.4.0.65.68 500 
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages 
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 Packages 
     5.4.0.26.32 500 
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages 
linux-image-generic: 
  Installed: 5.8.0.31.36 
  Candidate: 5.8.0.31.36 
  Version table: 
 *** 5.8.0.31.36 100 
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 
     5.4.0.65.68 500 
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages 
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 Packages 
     5.4.0.26.32 500 
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages 
linux-headers-generic: 
  Installed: 5.8.0.31.36 
  Candidate: 5.8.0.31.36 
  Version table: 
 *** 5.8.0.31.36 100 
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 
     5.4.0.65.68 500 
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages 
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 Packages 
     5.4.0.26.32 500 
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages

How do I get it unstuck?

[Impavidus]

I see only focal sources. Can you show the contents of your sources.list?

cat /etc/apt/sources.list

[vleermuis]

Huh you're right, since I'm already on 20.10 this should be gorilla right... Strange. I don't remember when exactly I upgraded from 20.04, I think not long after it came out. Does an upgrade not automatically update my sources?
Here's the list, indeed only focal stuff (and commented bionic entries, this is the version I set my laptop up with in the first place).

$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list 
# deb cdrom:[Kubuntu 18.04 LTS _Bionic Beaver_ - Release amd64 (20180426)]/ bionic main multiverse restricted universe 

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to 
# newer versions of the distribution. 
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted 
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted 

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the 
## distribution. 
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted 
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted 

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu 
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any 
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team. 
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe 
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe 
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates universe 

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu  
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to  
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in  
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu 
## security team. 
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse 
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse 
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates multiverse 

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as 
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes 
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features. 
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review 
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team. 
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse 
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse 

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's 
## 'partner' repository. 
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the 
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users. 
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner 
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner 

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted 
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted 
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe 
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe 
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse 
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse

[Impavidus]

A release upgrade does update your software sources. It seems that shortly after you installed the kernel upgrade to 5.8.0-31 on your well-functioning groovy system, your software sources were somehow reset to focal. Maybe something going wrong with a backup routine, like an accidental restore?

It looks like your system was a well-functioning 20.10 system until after the release of 5.8.0-31, so most packages must be the proper versions for 20.10. I don't think many packages have been replaced by their 20.04 versions, as those typically have lower version numbers. My suggestion is that you backup your documents and get a 20.10 live disk ready (just in case), then change your software sources to groovy by editing your sources.list. Then see what upgrades the package manager wants to install.

[bcschmerker]

If it helps with the confusion, I did some cherrypicking with 20.04.1-LTS on an emachines®/acer® EL1210-09 (Acer Computer Corp. DA078L: Advance Micro Devices Athlon 64 LE-1620; nVIDIA nForce 780a MCP, C77 geForce GPU in northbridge by-passed with GF119 GPU in msi N610GT-1GD5-LP). I selected the Metapackages linux-{image,modules,modules-extra,modules-nvidia-390,headers,tools}-generic-hwe-20.04 (which pulled in appropriate Depends for just-released Kernel versions) , and the Packages nvidia-settings and libnvidia-{common,compute,decode}-390 from Synaptic; nvidia-dkms-390 proved unnecessary, and the EL1210 is stable, excepting a buggy OpenLP 2.9.2-1 (unrelated issue).

@vleermuis Reading Post 14, I discovered a Metapackage goof: linux-modules-nvidia-460-generic-hwe-20.04-edge instead of linux-modules-nvidia-460-generic. The HWE and HWE-Edge Kernel updates are on a different schedule from the base Kernel updates. Bleeding-edge Kernel users should have the Metapackages linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04-edge, linux-image-generic-hwe-20.04-edge, linux-modules-extra-generic-hwe-20.04-edge, (optional) linux-tools-generic-hwe-20.04-edge, and (specific to Kepler and newer geForce and QUADRO) linux-modules-nvidia-460-generic-hwe-20.04-edge, thereby synchronizing the new Kernel package downloads.