[karmic] Ubuntu kernel 2.6.31-1-generic fails to boot

I can confirm this bug too. (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/394722) Choosing 2.6.30-10 does indeed solve the problem, so there has to be a bug in 2.6.31-1.11.

Same here, and I'm running it on VirtualBox 3.0.0 (with Windows XP Home as a host, running on an Acer Netbook).

This bug was reported against the linux-meta package when it likely should have been reported against the linux package instead. I'm transitioning this to the linux kernel package so that the appropriate teams are notified and made aware of this issue.

Just adding a note that this seems similar to bug 394371 although that bug notes the system just hangs, rather than reboots. Keeping these as separate bugs for now. Thanks.

As there have been the one or other critical fixes to the kernel since then, could you retry with the latest (2.6.31-2) karmic kernel and post the results?

Still the same with 2.6.31-2, unfortunately (at least for me): instant reboot.

Also, choosing the respective 'recovery mode' entry in grub doesn't make any difference compared to the normal entry.

Is there a chance to get a glance on how far you get when replacing "quiet splash" by "debug" on the grub boot screen?

Nope, doesn't give any extra output.

Nothing at all? At least a "Booting ..." or "Linux bzImage=..." from grub2? When you boot into 2.6.30, can you get your /boot/grub/grub.cfg, the output of "ls -la /boot".
Have you tried to regenerate the initramfs in case something went wrong with that? (sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.31-2-generic)

Yes, the "Booting from..." line always shows up (no matter whether using "quiet splash" or "debug" - it makes no difference) - I just thought that line was part of grub itself so I didn't count it as output from the kernel, sorry for not making that clear.
Anyhow, you only get to see that line for less that a second before the screen turns black and the computer's start-up sequence begins again. No further output.

Regenerating the initramfs with the command you specified didn't bring about any changes to the situation, either.

I don't have a grub.cfg, is that part of grub2? I have grub 0.97-29ubuntu56, I read somewhere you don't get grub2 if you upgrade to Karmic from a previous Ubuntu version which is what I did.
I suppose the corresponding file is menu.lst? I attached that below. (Note that I changed "default 0" to "default 4" temporarily to not run into this bug at every boot.)

Output of "ls -la /boot" is:

total 51432
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2009-07-09 10:57 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 2009-07-07 22:38 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 528128 2009-06-02 11:41 abi-2.6.28-13-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 597854 2009-06-22 20:52 abi-2.6.30-10-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 616754 2009-07-02 19:59 abi-2.6.31-1-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 617188 2009-07-07 00:35 abi-2.6.31-2-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 96768 2009-06-02 11:41 config-2.6.28-13-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 107659 2009-06-22 20:52 config-2.6.30-10-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 110616 2009-07-02 19:59 config-2.6.31-1-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 110464 2009-07-07 00:35 config-2.6.31-2-generic
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2009-07-07 14:31 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6823702 2009-07-01 02:33 initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7090437 2009-07-01 02:24 initrd.img-2.6.30-10-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7251739 2009-07-06 12:40 initrd.img-2.6.31-1-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7121223 2009-07-09 10:57 initrd.img-2.6.31-2-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 128796 2009-06-24 18:02 memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1449762 2009-06-02 11:41 System.map-2.6.28-13-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1561783 2009-06-22 20:52 System.map-2.6.30-10-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1637690 2009-07-02 19:59 System.map-2.6.31-1-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1639273 2009-07-07 00:35 System.map-2.6.31-2-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1074 2009-06-02 11:42 vmcoreinfo-2.6.28-13-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1068 2009-06-22 20:54 vmcoreinfo-2.6.30-10-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1195 2009-07-02 20:01 vmcoreinfo-2.6.31-1-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1195 2009-07-07 00:37 vmcoreinfo-2.6.31-2-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3487792 2009-06-02 11:41 vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3725392 2009-06-22 20:52 vmlinuz-2.6.30-10-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3870240 2009-07-02 19:59 vmlinuz-2.6.31-1-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3874688 2009-07-07 00:35 vmlinuz-2.6.31-2-generic

Still the same with 2.6.31-3 and 2.6.31-4

Still the same with 2.6.31-5.
Is there anything else I can do to help tackle this bug?

Could we retest with the latest karmic kernel, there are huge deltas to the -5 base last tested. Please test 2.6.31-12.39 or later and report back here. Thanks!

Works flawlessly for me at least.

According to the last comment I will close this as fixed. If someone still sees the problem, feel free to reopen it.