Update issues with LMDE 64 on HP Folio 13

[sabonmu]

I installed LMDE 64 bit (combi version with Cinnamon and MATE) on my new HP Folio 13, as follows:

sda1 ext4 /boot 2Gb
sda2 ext4 / 54 Gb
sda3 ext4 /home 57Gb
sda4 swap 6Gb

On a 128 Gb SSD

Before I installed I saw there was lots of problems with backlights not working on all Linux distros with the HP Folio 13, and so did the work around on boot for install, then edited Grub after install adding the text 'acpi_backlight=vendor' in the line as advised.
MATE was working fine, and Cinnamon looked nice, but didn't really work. There was a black screen to the login window, which was also black, but I just logged in anyway.
So I did the update, which on my dial up connection (I live in the Himalayas) took 3 nights.
This morning the update completed and after wards the Folio would not boot on '3.2.0-3-amd 64', but worked fine on '3.2.0-2-amd-64'

I was hoping that as the notebook was new, the backlight issues would be sorted and would come in the updates.

Now I'm worried that I'm stuck with an old kernel that works, and a new one that doesn't.
If I do an auto clean up (like Bleechbit), would this remove my old kernel and render the Notebook useless?

I would like to get the login screen back as well.

Any advice would be appreciated, I'm sure there is much to learn!

[sabonmu]

I bit the bullet and fresh installed standard Mint 13 Cinnamon 32 bit.
Followed by the work arounds for backlight and wireless.
I would have liked to try the 64 bit version, but downloading would be three days here, which I don't have as I need the HP for work.
I took the opportunity to install Joli OS 1.2 alongside in a small 10 GB partition, and have my favourite combination: Mint for productivity, and Joli OS synced across my Notebook and netbook, for when I'm not at work, and just want to browse away, without temptation to work!

The Mint 32bit install was a bit buggy, hanging here and there before I updated to level 1, which seemed to improve things amazingly!

It is now fast and I'm really happy with it. I even get a Login screen!