In Linspire and Ubuntu sometimes you need to revert to a previous kernel release because of Instability Missing hardware drivers Hardware support Buggy code If you have removed the previous kernel you may think you are out of luck but there are a few things you can do. Reinstall --------- If you have an install image that has the previous kernel you can install it again and dont update your kernel You havent removed the previous kernel -------------------------------------- Hold the shift key when you see the Grub screen, to get to the grub options. you may have better luck holding the shift key all the time through the boot if you have a fast system. Choose Advanced options for Ubuntu Choose the kernel Use the arrow key to pick a previous kernel and boot into it, hit enter. You dont have install media --------------------------- Open a terminal and type uname -a this will list your current running kernel write it down so you remember it for the next stage After that type "sudo synaptic" in Linspire enter your password when prompted {NOTE} If using Ubuntu you must install synaptic Click on search and type the kernel number that you need ie 4.4 4.10 4.13 Choose your kernel and make sure you include linux-headers, linux-image, linux-image-extras, linux-tools for your kernel Remove the unwanted kernel -------------------------- This will remove the broken kernel and drivers, and lets the package manager know that you don’t want it again if you do an update. You should remove the specific broken kernel and it’s headers, don’t remove the super package linux-generic this is the package that Linspire uses to upgrade the kernel and headers when they become available. If you remove it you wont get kernel updates automatically and will have to specifically run apt-get to get them. Open a terminal use the kernel numbers from previous step to confirm that the broken kernel has been installed eg if the currently broken kernel was for example; linux-image-4.4.0-generic it should show up in the following command. dpkg -l | grep linux-image remove the broken kernel ------------------------ sudo apt-get purge linux-image-4.4.0-generic remove its headers too ---------------------- sudo apt-get purge linux-headers-4.4.0-generic Reboot ------ On reboot you should boot into the previous safe version, hold shift down on boot and confirm that the broken kernel is not a choice in the grub advanced settings. Because we haven’t removed the linux-generic package itself Linspire will still attempt to get a new kernel when one is available. **source** Karl Roberts http://karlcode.owtelse.com/blog/2017/03/13/reverting-to-a-previous-kernel/