package linux-firmware 1.157.23 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Kuldeep Yadav]

I have this update on updating my Ubuntu version from 14.04 to 16.04

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: linux-firmware 1.157.23
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-170.220-generic 3.13.11-ckt39
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-170-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.27
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Nov 14 22:08:05 2020
Dependencies:

DistributionChannelDescriptor:
 # This is a distribution channel descriptor
 # For more information see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DistributionChannelDescriptor
 canonical-oem-somerville-trusty-amd64-20140620-0
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-08-12 (94 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 "Trusty" - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20140620-04:25
PackageArchitecture: all
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1.6
 apt 1.2.32ubuntu0.1
SourcePackage: linux-firmware
Title: package linux-firmware 1.157.23 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2020-11-14 (0 days ago)

[Seth Forshee (sforshee)]

Here are the error messages from the log files:

Setting up linux-firmware (1.157.23) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-170-generic
E: amd64-microcode: unsupported kernel version!
E: /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/casper-memdisk failed with return 1.
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-170-generic with 1.
dpkg: error processing package linux-firmware (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

The problem isn't with linux-firmware, it happens because the linux-firmware upgrade triggers building a new initrd and scripts installed by some other packages cause that to fail.

It's very unusual that you are running a 3.13 kernel with 16.04, and this is not a supported kernel for that release. This could be at least part of the problem, as one of the error messages complains about it being an unsupported kernel version.