How do I uninstall/reinstall a kernel

AAero9000 · May 24, 2023

On latest Solus 4.3 Budgie somehow an update to the latest kernel was botched. In grub I see kernel 6.2.14-233.current as the default but it won´t boot. After loading the initial ram disk a blinking cursor is all I see.

Using the recovery menu in grub I can see kernel 6.2.14-232.current and luckily that one boots successfully so at least I can still use my box.

But it's a nuisance having to boot via the recovery menu all the time. So how can I either,

reinstall kernel 6.2.14-233.current, or,
uninstall kernel 6.2.14-233.current, or,
make kernel 6.2.14-232.current the default kernel for booting

Please note that I have the NVidia Accelerated Graphics driver installed (390.xx series).

Brucehankins · May 25, 2023

Aero9000 have you tried booting in the previous kernel and then installing the LTS kernel to see if that helps?

infinitymdm · May 25, 2023

If you do just want to set a specific kernel to boot, you can do so with the the clr-boot-manager command line tool. More info here: https://community.clearlinux.org/t/kernel-lts-and-clr-boot-manager/5346

But I'd advise waiting until the next sync instead, as we should be moving to 6.3 which may play nicer with your hardware. We usually sync over the weekend.

pomon · May 25, 2023

First check sudo clr-boot-manager list-kernels.
Where the * is the kernel that will boot after a reboot.
My example:

$ sudo clr-boot-manager list-kernels
* com.solus-project.current.6.3.3-234
  com.solus-project.current.6.2.16-233

I execute the command sudo clr-boot-manager set-kernel com.solus-project.current.6.2.16-233
Checking:

$ sudo clr-boot-manager list-kernels
  com.solus-project.current.6.3.3-234
* com.solus-project.current.6.2.16-233

Reboot:

$ uname -r
6.2.16-233.current

The problem may be the nvidia drivers. See it.

AAero9000 · May 25, 2023

pomon The problem may be the nvidia drivers. See it.

Well, sir/madam, it most certainly was.

Here's how I resolved the issue....

Booted with the old (working) kernel.
Uninstalled proprietary NVidia driver and reboot.
Booted with the latest kernel on my box (which now worked).
Reinstall NVidia driver and reboot.

Now both kernels will run successfully with a GUI desktop.

[SOLVED!]