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Today I got what I presume was the update that should take care of Spectre and Meltdown. That didn't go very well. What do I do now? See screen photo.

enter image description here

I can't boot the 4.4.0-108-generic kernel because of a kernel panic. I'm running 16.04 on an Intel Core i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz × 4.

fregger
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    This bug related to the kernel update for the famous Meltdown CPU vulnerability (I don't know why people have edited-out that from the title of the question): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1742323 – Velkan Jan 10 '18 at 09:41
  • I had the same issue. 14.04 updated to Meltdown patch. I set previous kernel *.104 in GRUB and Ubuntu started ok. – Alexander Kryuchkov Jan 10 '18 at 09:41
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    **Kernel 4.4.0-109 has been released. Please update your systems.** – Stormlord Jan 10 '18 at 12:40
  • My saviour [https://askubuntu.com/questions/216398/set-older-kernel-as-default-grub-entry](https://askubuntu.com/questions/216398/set-older-kernel-as-default-grub-entry) – Floggedhorse Jan 11 '18 at 10:00
  • 4.4.0-109 is still broken for my Ubuntu 16.04 host running under VirtualBox. – Lætitia Jan 16 '18 at 13:07
  • Yes, there is an image of a black screen in this question, but no this question is not a duplicate of a generic black screen question because this question is about a **specific situation** that has a **specific answer**. – karel Jan 17 '18 at 05:35

4 Answers4

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Do not install 4.4.0-108-generic on Xenial! It breaks boot/reboot/shutdown/suspend functionality!

Install 4.4.0-109-generic (see USN-3522-3 for details)!

Reboot to the last working kernel and remove 4.4.0-108-generic:

  1. Press Shift between UEFI/BIOS and login-screen to enter GRUB
  2. In GRUB select Advanced options for Ubuntu and select Ubuntu, with Linux 4.4.0-xxx-generic (where xxx < 108)

  3. Login to the system and remove this buggy 4.4.0-108-generic and install 4.4.0-104-generic instead.

    sudo apt-get purge linux-headers-4.4.0-108 linux-headers-4.4.0-108-generic \
linux-image-4.4.0-108-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-108-generic \
linux-tools-4.4.0-108 linux-tools-4.4.0-108-generic
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-4.4.0-104 linux-headers-4.4.0-104-generic \
linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-104-generic \
linux-tools-4.4.0-104 linux-tools-4.4.0-104-generic

As of 2018-01-10 18:00 UTC, the 4.4.0-109-generic kernel seems to be distributed on mirrors.

But if you want you can select Main server (http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu).
You can switch to it from software-properties-gtk / software-properties-kde.

You can install 4.4.0-109-generic with the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-4.4.0-109 linux-headers-4.4.0-109-generic \
linux-headers-generic linux-image-4.4.0-109-generic \
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-109-generic linux-image-generic \
linux-tools-4.4.0-109 linux-tools-4.4.0-109-generic linux-tools-generic
N0rbert
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  • When I run `autoremove` after purging the `4.4.0-108` it asks me to remove the `4.4.0-103` versions - is that what I want to do? – Janina Jan 10 '18 at 12:32
  • You can skip autoremove if this your only one kernel. Previous working was 104. – N0rbert Jan 10 '18 at 12:34
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    I had updates turned off after I read Mesa broke other peoples' systems on Jan 4, 2018; so never got `108`. `109` appears to be there already though: `linux-generic/xenial-updates,xenial-security 4.4.0.109.114 amd64 [upgradable from: 4.4.0.104.109]` – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jan 10 '18 at 12:46
  • @N0rbert How to install 4.4.0.109-generic? What are the command lines? – graham Jan 10 '18 at 13:31
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    @Graham I updated my post. – N0rbert Jan 10 '18 at 13:47
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    Your instructions are to override boot and select `4.4.0-104`--all good. Then purge version `4.4.0-108` that suffers a meltdown over meltdown fix--all good. Then install `4.4.0-104` but you just booted with it so why would you install it? What am I missing... – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jan 11 '18 at 00:01
  • @WinEunuuchs2Unix this is for safety reasons. 108 and maybe 109 have side-effects, 104 does not. 104 is last known-good kernel, it should in the system on next `purge-old-kernels` or `auto-remove`. And current running may be not 104. – N0rbert Jan 11 '18 at 11:48
  • @N0rbert Understood. If current running isn't 104 then instruction for step #2 should be fine-tuned. Now it says "in GRUB select Advanced options for Ubuntu and select Ubuntu, with Linux 4.4.0-104-generic". Something like "previous version to 108" would make more sense. Sorry if it's nit-picking. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jan 11 '18 at 11:53
  • @WinEunuuchs2Unix Done, thank you! – N0rbert Jan 11 '18 at 11:57
  • I just got an update for 4.4.0-109-generic and I am unable to login from the UI. I can login to the terminal. Does anything special have to be done after this upgrade? For now, I have reverted to 104. – uncaught_exception Jan 14 '18 at 17:04
  • 4.4.0-109 is still broken for my Ubuntu 16.04 host running under VirtualBox. – Lætitia Jan 16 '18 at 13:08
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    The same thing happened to me couple of days ago. Followed the instruction here and it worked. However, today the 4.4.0-109 crashed, and even go back to 104 doesn't help. I have to manually fsck and have it fixed. Now I can login using 104. I probably will stick with 104 for now. – EXP0 Jan 18 '18 at 04:53
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In your boot menu choose advanced options for ubuntu.

You can boot from an older kernel (that is still installed) there.

Erik Lamers
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0

This fixed the issue for me:

  1. Using grub boot menu, boot older kernel version.
  2. Install even newer kernel

sudo apt install linux-generic-hwe-16.04-edge

update: looks like issue with version 4.4.0.108 fixed with version 4.4.0.109 released just now.

Yngvi Hrafn Pétursson
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    Many users do not need 4.13. It will be supported until [middle of 2018](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack). – N0rbert Jan 10 '18 at 12:45
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You can install the latest patch successfully if you boot with an older kernel (I went back about three releases) then run Ubuntu's all of Ubuntu's advanced options "system cleaning" tools including fsck. There apparently is something in the earlier releases that must be "fixed" before the patch can be installed successfully.

Bill Wilken
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