Some time back, when I was updating my Ubuntu, the Linux kernel images were also updated (to 2.6.35-x), and the one I was using was removed (2.6.32-x). Since then, none of the 2.6.35-x kernels boot at all. I have upgraded several times, and now have installed 2.6.35-23-generic and 2.6.35-24-generic. Neither boots. I am running 2.6.32-24-generic, but there are no sources or headers for that. I even compiled 2.6.35-7 and 2.6.36, but neither worked either.

After I select the kernel in Grub, the screen goes blank, my hard drive spins a few times, and the screen stays blank, until finally the computer just shuts off. I tried running one of those kernels, and then booting normally after that failed, and looked at /var/log/kern.log. I saw messages from the last time I booted using 2.6.32-24-generic, and messages from when I booted just now (identified by the timestamps), but I could see no messages that took place in between, when the nonfunctional kernel should have been loading.

I really don't know what other information to add. I am running Ubuntu 10.10 on a Toshiba Satellite A215-S7411. The hard drive is an external hard drive connected with a USB Y cable.

Could anyone help me fix this problem? Some programs, like VirtualBox, do not run without having the drivers compiled, and to compile them, I need the kernel headers, which I don't have and are not available in the repositories.

Thanks in advance.

You are booting Linux from a usb disk. Maybe the new kernel doesn't have the usb driver built into it.

That occurred to me too, but if that is the case, how did the older kernels work?

If that might really be the problem, how would I go about fixing it? Should I reinstall Ubuntu? I rather think I should, since I have already upgraded it a number of times.

If this is the problem then it is possible that the older kernels had the usb driver while this one doesn't. You never know what mistakes, oversights, or deliberate design changes are going to get incorporated into any distribution at any moment.

Reinstalling from a new kit might fix the problem or it might not fix it. It might be faster than researching, trying this and that with or without success, and on and on. It depends on your level of interest in debugging problems. I would probably get a new usb drive and install on that. The old usb would not be changed and you would know if reinstalling is the fast fix.

I think I will try reinstalling on a different partition, and if it works, transferring my files. I don't think that I feel very comfortable yet with debugging problems like these right now.

Thanks for your input, stress_junkie.