Comment 5 for bug 974412

Wow! I'm not sure I am comfortable doing all that. This is my working personal laptop - not some test system I am OK to experiment with and trash.
I'll try the kernel debug boot thing but I don't feel good about installing development releases. I'll look into the option of creating a new "test linux" partition that I can play with without screwing up my main working system. May take a day or two. If you have any pointers for setting this up, that might help. I'm thinking the best way is to not modify the MBR but I need to do some research to figure out how to do this first.

> Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 17:37:46 +0000
> From: <email address hidden>
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: [Bug 974412] Re: System fails to boot after kernel upgrade to 3.0.0-18
>
> Donald Parker, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu
> better. Could you please report the results following
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingKernelBoot ? As well, please be sure to
> confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu.
> ISO CD images are available from
> http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily/current/ . If the issue remains, please
> run the following command in the development release from a Terminal
> (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and
> attach updated debug information to this report.
>
> apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>
>
> Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would
> be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the
> issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once
> you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-
> testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon
> next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and
> deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your
> results.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
> ** Tags added: needs-bisect needs-upstream-testing
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/974412
>
> Title:
> System fails to boot after kernel upgrade to 3.0.0-18
>
> Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> My system is updated every couple of days. After a recent upgrade
> that included a new kernel, my system fails to boot up. If I select
> the previous kernel from grub boot menu, everything is fine.
>
> I can't really see where the boot process fails. Only visible symptom
> is the led behind my caps lock key starts flashing after several
> seconds (dell studio xps m1340 laptop).
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
> Package: linux-image (not installed)
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-17.30-generic-pae 3.0.22
> Uname: Linux 3.0.0-17-generic-pae i686
> AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
> ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
> Architecture: i386
> ArecordDevices:
> **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
> card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
> Subdevices: 1/1
> Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
> AudioDevicesInUse:
> USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
> /dev/snd/controlC0: don 1557 F.... pulseaudio
> CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
> Card0.Amixer.info:
> Card hw:0 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xf0880000 irq 17'
> Mixer name : 'Nvidia MCP79/7A HDMI'
> Components : 'HDA:111d7675,10280271,00100103 HDA:10de0007,10280271,00100100'
> Controls : 20
> Simple ctrls : 11
> Date: Thu Apr 5 09:02:06 2012
> HibernationDevice: RESUME=/dev/sda5
> InstallationMedia:
>
> Lsusb:
> Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
> Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
> Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0c45:63fc Microdia
> MachineType: Dell Inc. Studio XPS 1340
> ProcEnviron:
> LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
> PATH=(custom, user)
> LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-17-generic-pae root=UUID=200afb16-b1d9-42e5-8ab5-12b07ec823a1 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
> RelatedPackageVersions:
> linux-restricted-modules-3.0.0-17-generic-pae N/A
> linux-backports-modules-3.0.0-17-generic-pae N/A
> linux-firmware 1.60.1
> SourcePackage: linux
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
> dmi.bios.date: 04/08/2011
> dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
> dmi.bios.version: A15
> dmi.board.name: 0K183D
> dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
> dmi.board.version: A15
> dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 1234567890
> dmi.chassis.type: 8
> dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
> dmi.chassis.version: A15
> dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA15:bd04/08/2011:svnDellInc.:pnStudioXPS1340:pvrA15:rvnDellInc.:rn0K183D:rvrA15:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrA15:
> dmi.product.name: Studio XPS 1340
> dmi.product.version: A15
> dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
>
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