HWE 6.5.0-25-generic kernel does not boot due to VirtualBox

[Jeffrey Walton]

Hi Everyone,

I'm running Ubuntu 22.04, x86_64, fully patched. I have VirtualBox installed. Both linux-image-generic and linux-image-generic-hwe kernels are installed, just in case. And I almost always boot to the HWE kernel.

I performed an `aptitude upgrade` and and `aptitude safe-upgrade` this morning. The upgrade installed the 6.5.0-25-generic kernel. During the reboot, the machine hung with the message "Failed to start
LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module."

I reset the machine, selected the [old] 6.5.0-21-generic kernel, and the machine booted Ok.

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After the failed boot and reboot to the lower kernel, I performed:

$ sudo apt-get remove --purge '*6.5.0-25-generic*'
$ sudo apt-mark hold '*6.5.0-25-generic*'

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$ ls /lib/modules
5.15.0-100-generic 6.5.0-21-generic

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
Release: 22.04
Codename: jammy

[Aaron Rainbolt (arraybolt3)]

I am unable to reproduce this with Ubuntu Desktop 22.04.4 (all updates installed), VirtualBox 6.1.50 (from Ubuntu repos), VBox Extension Pack installed, with kernel 6.5.0-25-generic running. Using a Dell Optiplex 9020 with 32 GB RAM, an Intel Core i5-4570, and an NVIDIA 1050 Ti GPU with Nouveau graphics. System boots into the latest HWE kernel without issues, and I can boot a Tiny Core Linux VM just fine. I even enabled the xHCI controller from the extension pack to see if that would change things and it did not - both the system and the VM boot after making that change.

(I'm using a TeamGroup SATA SSD too, though I doubt that matters - also as a passing note I've not had the best experience with TeamGroup's flash storage.)