Unable to upgrade to ubuntu 9.10 - Kernel panic
 

I have 64-bit Ubuntu 9.04 on my SUPERMICRO workstation. Upgrade to 9.10 failed displaying the black screen and a page-long report starting with the message: "Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!". The computer freezes and you can not continue upgrade. The same happens when you try to install 9.10 from the ISO disk. I also tried to experiment with the 32-bit Ubuntu 9.10 installation disk. The problem was different, but result - the same. Computer freezes. I had to reinstall 9.04 and it works just fine.

Check the ram in the workstation. It is possible that 9.04 does not use the same checking procedure as the kernel version is different. Also try installing with the no acpi option.