I did not run the dpkg -P since I knew I had already purged hotplug ... just the dpkg-reconfigure

Yes, that is the root of the problem. There used to be separate udev and hotplug packages. Udev now "provides" hotplug, and you do not want to remove it. Having lingering files from the hotplug pacage creates conflicts. Your problem may be a result of a race condition where you initrd was generated before udev was installed.
dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-`uname -r` will rebuild it.

same output here...
and i did reconfigure the kernel package (BTW its simpler just to run mkinitramfs. i tried both thaugh).

# dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-`uname -r`
Running depmod.
Finding valid ramdisk creators.
Using mkinitramfs to build the ramdisk.
Not updating initrd symbolic links since we are being updated/reinstalled
(2.6.15-4 was configured last, according to dpkg)
Not updating image symbolic links since we are being updated/reinstalled
(2.6.15-4 was configured last, according to dpkg)
Running postinst hook /sbin/update-grub.
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.list file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-486
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done


Well,... it looks like something's happening...

==>Still the same... a ton of udev errors on reboot...

Using mkinitramfs is the important part here.. and the part that is messing up..
somthing in the initrd is not working with udev..

The command is running successfully. That is the expected output. How is running mkinitramfs directly as opposed to dpkg-reconfigure(the debian way) any easier?

I tried to do the dpkg -p hotplug and reconfigure thing of the linux image but didn't fix the problem.
then I tried to update udev and this is what I get:

The following packages will be upgraded:
udev
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 278 not upgraded.
Need to get 275kB of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 ftp.debian.skynet.be unstable/main udev 0.084-5 [275kB]
Fetched 275kB in 0s (391kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package udev.
(Reading database ... 120488 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace udev 0.084-3 (using .../archives/udev_0.084-5_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement udev ...
Setting up udev (0.084-5) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/init.d/udev ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/udev/udev.rules ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/udev/devfs.rules ...
/boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-1-686 was been altered. Cannot update.

anyone an idea to fix this????

it's ok guys. I fixed it.

ater doing:

dpkg --force-all -P udev
apt-get install udev
dpkg-reconfigure linux-image****
reboot

it worked perfectly

thanx to you all for the information

i am still stuck.
i followed what bvdeynse said.
i seem to get a line that bvdeynse didn't in the reinstall of udev:

Selecting previously deselected package udev.
(Reading database ... 162904 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking udev (from .../archives/udev_0.084-3_i386.deb) ...
Setting up udev (0.084-3) ...
Waiting for /dev to be fully populated...
Populating the new /dev filesystem temporarily mounted on /tmp/udev.xg8JVZ/...
ln: creating symbolic link `/tmp/udev.xg8JVZ/.static/dev/gpmdata' to `/dev/.static/dev/.static/dev/gpm
data': No such file or directory


BTW i fixed this error:
with this:


in response to:
it is, but i just got tired of updating my grub to include "vga=971" , otherwise its difficult looking for possible errors in initrd.

I know udev can cause some errors during reinstall with symbolic links cause some of them already exist (cause even when udev is temporarely uninstalled, devices still exist) normally after reboot it should be no problem cause everytime devices are recreated with udev. or does it still gives problems after reboot?

and if I can give you a tip about the vga=791, if you ever install your debian from scratch again, install it with the "vga=971" boot option when booting from CD the first time. this way, he will always put this parameter to any installed kernel package by default. probably there must be some way to change this default setting after the setup but haven't checked it yet where this is located.

thanx for the initramfs tip

Just add vga=792 to the kopt line it menu.lst, every time update-grub is run either by a kernel upgrade or dpk-reconfigure it will add that line to all the entries

ok, let me get this right before i screw up the system:

you want me to
1. purge udev.
2. reboot.
3. reinstall udev?

i am asking now before i screw up my system.

Don't screw up your system, just wait for the next update of udev. The version
0.084-5 fixes the bug. (source: debian bug report 352274).

++

NOOOOO!!!!
actually, udev is only needed during boot process to populate the devices. once it is booted, you can uninstall and reinstall without rebooting.
if udev is not installed while in the boot process, you will never be able to boot again => this would be a reinstall from scratch

just type these commands in this order

allright, i had a feeling i'd better not do that.

i suppose ill have to wait for the next version of udev to see if this will be fixed at last on my machine.