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Once while I was using Ubuntu everything locked up. I was no longer able to boot vmlinuz-3.8.0-31-generic. When I would try, it would not get past the boot phase.

Fortunately, I am still able to boot vmlinuz-3.8.0-30-generic and work normally.

Is there any way I can restore vmlinuz-3.8.0-31-generic to work again? Any ideas on what caused the problem or how to recover from it in the future?

Explosion Pills
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1 Answers1

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You have to re-configure the packages/drivers installed for latest kernel

It will do nothing but set-up/configure the packages which was meant for your oldest kernel.

Here is the possible solution

Follow these steps precisely:

  1. During boot select the Recovery Mode of your latest kernel and start your system in Recovery Mode

  2. Once your system starts in recovery mode chose grub option listed in the menu. It will prompt you to mount your system in read/write mode. Chose yes. After updating grub it will exit and will come back to the menu.

  3. This time chose root and execute following commands to re-configure your packages:

    apt-get autoclean && apt-get autoremove
dpkg --configure -a
dpkg-reconfigure $(dpkg -l | grep xserver | awk '{print $2}' | tr '\n' ' ')
dpkg-reconfigure -a

    dpkg-reconfigure -a would take some time depends upon packages installed in your system. so please wait for it to complete. If it doesn't give any messages means it executes successfully. If it gives any message just note it and post in comment

    dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

    press Tab to highlight Ok and then Enter to exit.

    update-initramfs -u
reboot

Once your system restarts chose again your latest kernel normal mode and see what happens.. You should not get black-locked screen this time.

Reply if something goes wrong, or you get any error message in any particular command. Mention the command with the error message.

Saurav Kumar
  • 14,916
  • Well when I booted the kernel from grub it worked. Your answer led me to do that, so there you go :P – Explosion Pills Oct 22 '13 at 18:11
  • I'm so glad to help you. :) – Saurav Kumar Oct 22 '13 at 19:55
  • I just updated to 13.10 and the latest kernel, 3.11 is not working. It takes me to the login screen but doesn't start X (seemingly; it says something like XOrg blocked). I can boot 3.8 and the GUI does load. I followed your instructions after booting 3.11, but dkpg-reconfigure lightdm didn't give me anything where I would have to tab or hit Enter; it just did nothing. Even after all of this, 3.11 still won't load the GUI. – Explosion Pills Nov 21 '13 at 23:07
  • @ExplosionPills: Are you using NVidea graphics driver? It is always recommended that you first un-install the graphics driver before upgrading the Kernel. Although you installed a latest kernel, I recommend you to first completely remove your graphics driver and then install in again. Also after installing re-configure all your installed drivers. I suggest you start a new post. Since this post is related to some other question. And don't forget to mention your system configurations!! – Saurav Kumar Nov 22 '13 at 15:46
  • What commands do I have to run to do any of those things? – Explosion Pills Nov 22 '13 at 17:54
  • @ExplosionPills: Hope these links would help you to remove and re-install nvidia drivers. Link 1., Link 2., Link 3.. To re-configure after installing NVidia drivers, use these command: sudo dpkg-reconfigure -a , sudo update-initramfs -u. Again I suggest you to start a new question, so that some other will give attention to your problem. – Saurav Kumar Nov 23 '13 at 05:35