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I have ubuntu 11.04 on my Dell Inspiron

I did an upgrade using following commands

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade

Now on restarting the system, the latest kernel version does not boot up, leaving me with blinking caps light. It seems like system just hangs up.

Though previous kernel is still bootable (thank god !!)

What might be the problem and how can I solve it.

EDIT : Output of df and cat /etc/fstab

nikhil@dell:~$ df
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda7            106802240  10149900  91227088  11% /
none                   1973500       736   1972764   1% /dev
none                   1981208       252   1980956   1% /dev/shm
none                   1981208        96   1981112   1% /var/run
none                   1981208         0   1981208   0% /var/lock
nikhil@dell:~$ cat /etc/fstab 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=b6f842c2-bbc6-41e0-bb4e-88125ba0b2d1 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=97b9c281-e852-41a7-8f3d-e511915c4013 none            swap    sw              0       0

EDIT : Even using

sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.38-11-generic
sudo update-grub 

Has not helped.

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The problem is likely related to some drivers. We need more info to be able to help: try to boot your system in text mode to see the error messages (askubuntu.com/questions/25022/…). –  Javier Rivera Sep 13 '11 at 7:19
@Javier Rivera Here is the phone click I could get, i55.tinypic.com/2nvsbxx.jpg --> please let me know, if there is anything else I should do. –  Nikhil Sep 13 '11 at 7:53
Reinstall the new kernel and/or check the disk for errors. –  arrange Sep 13 '11 at 9:08
@arrange - I have already made a complete fresh install twice, updated using dist-upgrade and both time, same problem. –  Nikhil Sep 13 '11 at 9:50
Then IMO it must be a bug in the new kernel. –  arrange Sep 13 '11 at 9:55
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1 Answer

According to the picture the system can't boot because the kernel is unable to mount the root filesystem on sda7.

The most likely cause is that grub isn't properly configured for the new kernel. Boot from the old kernel, open a terminal and type:

sudo grup-update

If this doesn't help you, we will need some more info about how are the partitions layout in the old kernel. Please, post the output to those commands:


cat /etc/fstab

This error could also be caused by a problem in the initramfs, a small file that contains the drivers that the system need to boot. You can recreate it with the following command:

sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.38-10-generic

Note that 2.6.38-10-generic should be the name of the kernel that doesn't boot. Be careful with this.

share|improve this answer
sudo update-grub did not help.. I have posted output of df and cat /etc/fstab in the question. –  Nikhil Sep 13 '11 at 8:24
Everything looks right. –  Javier Rivera Sep 13 '11 at 9:01
I have edited the answer with a complete different approach, a problem in initram instead of grub. –  Javier Rivera Sep 13 '11 at 9:10
the kernel is 2.6.38-11, and I don't know if its generic or something else. Should I be modifying the command accordingly. –  Nikhil Sep 13 '11 at 9:36
You can try both with -generic and without it. It's likely that it's the generic kernel, but it can't hurt if you make a mistake here. –  Javier Rivera Sep 13 '11 at 9:55
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