Problem upgrading kernel: incomplete install of linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic

[fitzhugh]

Most of this can probably be skipped or skimmed but I wanted to provide the info needed. I'd appreciate any help!

For the past week or two each time I've run Adept Package Manager it has returned the following error in an alert window part way through the run:

"There was an error commiting [sic] changes. Possibly there was a problem downloading some packages or the commit would break packages. "

The following line (with different date/time for each adept run) shows up repeatedly in /var/log/dpkg.log, with no further entries showing completion:

2007-10-07 19:41:18 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32

(Please scroll to bottom to see results from
% more dpkg.log* |grep linux-image)

Any ideas how to fix the incomplete linux-image install?

Further details:
I found an old post regarding a similar looking error in ubuntu here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=540188 which basically says there is an error in the script /sbin/update-grub, which I found and fixed:
Changed #!/bin/sh to #!/bin/bash in /sbin/update-grub
then ran
% sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

While this worked for previous poster it failed to work for me. The error was real but it didn't fix my problem (maybe there were multiple problems). /var/log/dpkg.log had an additional line added saying it was half-installed again, and again no resolution.

However, when I ran apt-get dist-upgrade I got the following (along with a lot of other stuff I'm leaving out):

...
Setting up linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic (2.6.20-16.32) ...
Running depmod.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic
Not updating initrd symbolic links since we are being updated/reinstalled
(2.6.20-16.29 was configured last, according to dpkg)
Not updating image symbolic links since we are being updated/reinstalled
(2.6.20-16.29 was configured last, according to dpkg)
Running postinst hook script /sbin/update-grub.
You shouldn't call /sbin/update-grub. Please call /usr/sbin/update-grub instead!

Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
expr: syntax error
User postinst hook script [/sbin/update-grub] exited with value 2
dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 2
...

Any suggestions? Can I just uninstall and reinstall to see if that fixes it, or is that a bad idea with the kernel? I guess I fear I'd be kernelless and dead in the water, probably silly of me. Is there a more informative log that I've overlooked? I'm not clear what script is calling /sbin/update-grub instead of /usr/sbin/update-grub as it should. I tried running both manually and got the following from each (plus a warning telling me to run the correct one when I ran the wrong one):

Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
expr: syntax error

As referred to above...
% more dpkg.log* |grep linux-image:
2007-10-07 19:41:18 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-10-07 20:14:21 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-10-08 23:14:59 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-10-10 12:38:22 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-04 23:54:07 upgrade linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.29 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-04 23:54:07 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.29
2007-09-04 23:54:08 status unpacked linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.29
2007-09-04 23:54:08 status half-installed linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.29
2007-09-04 23:54:18 status half-installed linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.29
2007-09-04 23:54:23 status unpacked linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-04 23:54:25 status unpacked linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-04 23:55:59 status unpacked linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-04 23:55:59 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-05 00:28:03 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-27 22:03:23 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-29 00:19:01 upgrade linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-29 00:19:01 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-29 00:19:02 status unpacked linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-29 00:19:02 status half-installed linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-29 00:19:08 status half-installed linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.31
2007-09-29 00:19:13 status unpacked linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-29 00:19:16 status unpacked linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-29 00:20:06 status unpacked linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-29 00:20:06 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-29 09:50:31 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-30 19:21:02 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-30 19:38:55 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32
2007-09-30 20:04:47 status half-configured linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic 2.6.20-16.32

[coyotl]

Re: Problem upgrading kernel: incomplete install of linux-image-2.6.20-16-generi

reinstall, it could be a faulty download.

Or download the package manually and install with kpackage or dpkg -i in konsole.

or try apt-get -f install

Or use kernel 2.6.20-15..

[fitzhugh]

Re: Problem upgrading kernel: incomplete install of linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic

Thanks for the multiple suggestions. So far I'm going with using the earlier kernel because I ran into the same error trying the others, but I may well have done something wrong since I didn't see a bunch of others reporting the same error. I'll try again later or if I get any further suggestions here.
Again, thanks!

[coyotl]

Re: Problem upgrading kernel: incomplete install of linux-image-2.6.20-16-generic

'reinstall' meant just the package of course

apt-get -f install in konsole (as root) should be done to insure all packages have been set up