Quote:
Originally Posted by eschwartz
While it may be true that the kernel didn't cause this problem, I personally feel a lot more comfortable with two kernels installed.
I run Arch Linux, granted... so we get bleeding-edge updates.
But it could still happen to anyone.
So, what happened that made me uncomfortable having only one kernel available? I usually run the linux-ck kernel from the Arch User Repository, which closely follows the linux kernel from [core] or [testing].
But the kernel which was in [testing] at the time, had a rather irritating graphics bug which mainly applied to old computers using Intel graphics. It completely fritzed the screen and made it impossible to do anything. And of course when I compiled linux-ck with the same update, it had the same bug. 
I was able to reboot the computer into a usable state, because luckily I still had the linux kernel from [core] installed, so I could boot to that and revert the update. Otherwise I might have had to break out the rescue USB, because I am not quite good enough to do things blindly. 
Moral of the story: don't upgrade the single most vital component of the system without a backup in case Things Go Wrong. Especially when it is that easy to keep a backup around. |
I hear you, eschwartz. When I did my last upgrade I had all kinds of problems and the new kernel simply wouldn't boot. If I hadn't had the old kernel (at least it let me get to a terminal) I would've been screwed.