kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

[back2kubuntu]

Hello,

As many I have innocently accepted to upgrade to kernel 2.5.15.25, but I regret it. Randomly (it seems to me) the systems freezes and the only way out is to press the reset button.

Is there anybody out there who knows how to safely downgrade to the previous kernel version, or better to uninstall all updates from a given date?

Many thanks in advance.
Cheers

[2004]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

I down graded my version too after the updates
in synaptic search for linux and highlight the kernel package then from the package menu click force version.
select your previous version and apply

sorry I only know how to do it in synaptic

hope this helps

[back2kubuntu]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

Thank you for your reply.

Under the Package menu the option "Force version" is not accessible. There is only "Lock version".

Do you know how to make it available?
cheers

[2004]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

I did a right click on the package and it listed the 2 versions.
(linux-386 2.6.15.23)
the only thing I can think of is either you didn't upgrade the kernel or you selected the wrong package.(just a guess)
The force version was already available to me

sorry i'm not much help on this

[back2kubuntu]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

What package exactly? kernel-package ?
I did install kernel 2.5.15.25, and in synaptic I see it as installed.

[2004]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

"linux-386" was the upgrade
I just forced it to use the previous version (2.6.15.22) and not the new upgrade (2.6.15.23)

[back2kubuntu]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

For linux-386 there is only the option "lock version".
Could you pls. indicate in detail the steps with exact package names of the procedure you followed?

Thanks.

[claydoh]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

The easiaet way to remove a troublesome kernel is to reboot your machine, and in the grub bootloader section, select a previous kernel version. For example, my bootloader screen looks like this:

Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-25-k7
Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-25-k7 (recovery mode)
Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-23-k7
Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-23-k7 (recovery mode)
Ubuntu, memtest86+

The top (newest) kernel is the default one. Just choose a different entry (one that is not a 'recovery mode'), in my case the one I would choose is:

Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-23-k7

Yours will probably have "-386" at the end unless you have installed a processor-specific kernel (i.e. -k7 or -686)

Once you have gotten back to your desktop and all is fine, you can use adept or synaptic to remove the package "linux-image-2.6.15-25-xxx" and that will uninstall the offending kernel image as well as remove the bootloader menu entry.

I would suggest fetching updates again and seeing if there is any other updates that had not finished being uploaded to the apt servers, particularly linux-restricted-modules. Look for linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15-25-xxx and see if that is installed. It wasn't for me after the update the first time out, and I could not get to a gui untill I did so.

From the package description:

Currently the following modules are included:
- madwifi (Atheros)
- fglrx (ATI)
- nvidia
- fcdsl, fcdsl2, fcdslsl, fcdslslusb, fcdslusb, fcdslusb2, fcdslusba,
fcpci, fcpcmcia, fcpcmcia_cs, fcusb, fxusb (AVM ISDN)

These modules are "restricted" because they are not available under a
completely Free licence.

[back2kubuntu]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

Thank you for your reply and help.

I had done as you say but I got scared when I saw the message that linux-image was going to be removed.

Anyway, I did as you said and everything seems to be ok now, just as I wanted. So far so good!

cheers.

[back2kubuntu]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

Another test confirming that kernel 2.5.15.25 is really plagued with buggs.

I've just bought an Acer TravelMate 8204, installed on it kubuntu 6.06 using the shipit cd, i.e., with kernel 2.5.15.23, and I was quite happy to set up the wifi connection using wlassistant (static ip) in a few clicks.

I then decided to update the system using synaptic, and as you can imagine,  the kernel was updated to 2.5.15.25. After that no connection was ever possible, and even my wlan card was not detected at all!!!

So? Back to kernel 2.5.15.23, of course.

I cannot believe that a newer kernel is this worse!

[tiger99]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

Just for future reference, as you seem to have this almost fixed now. The 2.5 series of kernels were for development only, you should really be using 2.6 if you expect things to work! (Or 2.4, if you don't want the latest stuff, but I would not recommend using a several years old kernel, as it might not support all your hardware and software.)

But that might not have been obvious in whatever documentation you have. That is one area where Linux is not yet much better than Windoze.

Right now, I am in the middle of moving all my machines from SuSE to Kubuntu, and am about to install kernel 2.6.15-25, which seems to be the latest that Kubuntu offer. You can get the very latest versions from http://www.kernel.org if necessary, and if you need to build one, http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/K...ild-HOWTO.html will help.

[claydoh]

Re: kernel 2.5.15.25 is troublesome

Um I didn't notice, but I think the 2.6.15 was a typo