etch kernel is 2.6.18
Lenny is 2.6.26


if you are currently running kernel 2.6.3, why not try installing 2.6.18 from etch first..

Might be easier to just backup your data and re-install since you have no clue what state your system is actually in right now..


Log files are here.

/var/log/apt
/var/log/dpkg.log
/var/log/aptitude

The idea to first do a kernel upgrade from etch was a good one.

I went back to etch, and did an upgrade to 2.6.18-686
Seems to have gone well.
Linux alpha 2.6.18-6-686 #1 SMP Sat Dec 27 09:31:05 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

I then followed the process on:
http://www.howtoforge.com/
how-to-upgrade-a-debian-etch-system-server-and-desktop-to-debian-lenny

And it seems to have gone well. With the pre-upgrade to etch kernel apt now works, and the updates seem good.
The lenny upgrade was big! And then I did the dist-upgrade, which was also big.

The one thing that seems not-quite right to me is that you said that Lenny is 2.6.26, my uname reports: 2.6.18-6-686.

Apt upgrade, dist-upgrade, and updates all thing that everything is stable and fine. Why is the kernel not the right version? Should I try a manual apt install of the newer kernel?

Thanks for the insight and good hint!
Too bad that apt got/gets so confused, and can break things!

If the rest of the upgrade worked (amazing..), then yes you should be able to manually install the 2.6.26 kernel now..

aptitude update
aptitude install linux-image-2.6.26-1-686