Issue with latest Kernel - kernel panic

[thenerdyguy]

So, one month ago, kernel update completely broke my system. Kernel panic not syncing on boot.

I was told by people on Reddit and elsewhere it was my hard drive that was faulty or that I've acted very stupidly and did something wrong, etc etc

I've installed Ubuntu 22.04 instead and ran it for a few weeks, but got tired of it being hungry on resources and ergonomics not as good. But no issues at boot.

I've reinstalled Linux Mint this weekend. Everything was fine. This afternoon, the same kernel update that caused problems the month before appeared in software manager. Since it was an almost fresh install and that was everything was backed up, I took the bet and applied the update.

Boom. Kernel panic on boot. Previous kernels don't boot either. Once again, this happens only on Linux Mint and only when applying the latest Kernel update. So, there's definitely something wrong with that update.

[thenerdyguy]

Inxi on working PC is:

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CPU: dual core Intel Core i5-6200U (-MT MCP-)
speed/min/max: 2595/400/2800 MHz Kernel: 5.15.0-67-generic x86_64 Up: 11m
Mem: 3941.3/15893.0 MiB (24.8%) Storage: 1.82 TiB (37.5% used) Procs: 275
Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.13

The problematic kernel is 5.15.0-69.76

[Maxwell-J]

OK here ......

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CPU: quad core Intel Core i5-2400S (-MCP-) speed/min/max: 1635/1600/2500 MHz
Kernel: 5.15.0-69-generic x86_64 Up: 7h 48m Mem: 1797.8/3811.9 MiB (47.2%)
Storage: 989.2 GiB (28.5% used) Procs: 232 Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.13

[SMG]

So, one month ago, kernel update completely broke my system. Kernel panic not syncing on boot.
...
I've reinstalled Linux Mint this weekend. Everything was fine. This afternoon, the same kernel update that caused problems the month before appeared in software manager. Since it was an almost fresh install and that was everything was backed up, I took the bet and applied the update.

Boom. Kernel panic on boot. Previous kernels don't boot either. Once again, this happens only on Linux Mint and only when applying the latest Kernel update. So, there's definitely something wrong with that update.

I think you are misunderstanding what a kernel update means. The 5.15.0-69.76 kernel only came out 10 days ago so there is no way that is the kernel that caused you a problem a month ago.

[thenerdyguy]

So, one month ago, kernel update completely broke my system. Kernel panic not syncing on boot.
...
I've reinstalled Linux Mint this weekend. Everything was fine. This afternoon, the same kernel update that caused problems the month before appeared in software manager. Since it was an almost fresh install and that was everything was backed up, I took the bet and applied the update.

Boom. Kernel panic on boot. Previous kernels don't boot either. Once again, this happens only on Linux Mint and only when applying the latest Kernel update. So, there's definitely something wrong with that update.

I think you are misunderstanding what a kernel update means. The 5.15.0-69.76 kernel only came out 10 days ago so there is no way that is the kernel that caused you a problem a month ago.

How else do you explain the situation? Laptop has been running Mint through several updates. Kernel update comes, system becomes unusable. Then, Ubuntu works flawlessly. Then, fresh install of Mint works with no issues until a kernel update comes through the software manager, and once again, it messes up the whole system.

What is wrong then? Why only on Mint? Why only when a kernel update is applied, while it went through several kernel updates in the past with no issues?

If it's something else that is wrong, I want to find out what it is, but there's clearly something wrong!

[SMG]

How else do you explain the situation? Laptop has been running Mint through several updates. Kernel update comes, system becomes unusable. Then, Ubuntu works flawlessly. Then, fresh install of Mint works with no issues until a kernel update comes through the software manager, and once again, it messes up the whole system.

It seems you are unaware that each kernel update has changes to it so when one kernel update has a problem, one needs to specify the exact kernel version and not just say "an update" which has no meaning to anyone except you.

Additionally, Linux Mint does not have their own kernels. Linux Mint uses Ubuntu kernels so you are going to have to be a lot more specific about what versions of Ubuntu you are using instead of just making general comments.

What is wrong then? Why only on Mint? Why only when a kernel update is applied, while it went through several kernel updates in the past with no issues?

If it's something else that is wrong, I want to find out what it is, but there's clearly something wrong!

If you really wanted to find out what is wrong, you would have provided your system information as requested in How to get help (the section in pink right above your topic title).

Please open the System Reports app and click the System Information tab on the left. Your computer's information should come up in the right pane. Then click the Copy button in the lower right and paste the results into a reply window here so we can see how Linux Mint views your hardware. Post the entire output.

[thenerdyguy]

Once again, I got the kernel panic error on boot, despite having reverted to a snapshot. I did fsck on a live USB, allowing me to get into my system, but I know on next boot it's going to fail. I am now unsure again if the kernel update is the culprit, but this only happens after a kernel update. I'm going to go back to Ubuntu 22.04 for the moment, as I need my laptop to actually boot more than I need the ergonomics of Mint, but if someone finds what is exactly the issue, it would be fantastic.

Here's the content of the system report:

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System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.8
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E5470 v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 9 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0P88J9 v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell v: 1.34.3
    date: 11/20/2022
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 56.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 56.7/62.0 Wh (91.5%) volts: 8.4 min: 7.6
    model: Samsung SDI DELL TXF9M6B serial: <filter> status: Full
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5-6200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Skylake rev: 3 cache:
    L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2706 high: 2726 min/max: 400/2800 cores: 1: 2700 2: 2700 3: 2726 4: 2700
    bogomips: 19200
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 520] vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel ports:
    active: DP-4,HDMI-A-1,eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1916
  Device-2: Sunplus Innovation Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-2:2
    chip-ID: 1bcf:28b8
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 5206x1080 s-dpi: 96
  Monitor-1: DP-1-3 mapped: DP-4 pos: primary,left model: ASUS VP228 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 102
    diag: 546mm (21.5")
  Monitor-2: HDMI-1 mapped: HDMI-A-1 pos: primary,center model: WS_E11B_V51 res: 1920x1080
    dpi: 69 diag: 587mm (23.1")
  Monitor-3: eDP-1 pos: right model: Chi Mei Innolux res: 1366x768 dpi: 112 diag: 354mm (13.9")
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 520 (SKL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.2.5 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d70
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-67-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6
    chip-ID: 8086:156f
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Dell
    driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:003e
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-8:4 chip-ID: 0cf3:e007
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.2
    sub-v: 25a
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 bus-ID: 00:17.0
    chip-ID: 8086:282a
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 699.19 GiB (37.5%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 2TB size: 1.82 TiB speed: 1.5 Gb/s
    serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.79 TiB used: 349.45 GiB (19.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 mapped: vgmint-root
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.61 GiB used: 283.3 MiB (17.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 14.4 MiB (2.8%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 976 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/dm-2
    mapped: vgmint-swap_1
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 12 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
  Device-1: 1-2:2 info: Sunplus Innovation Integrated_Webcam_HD type: Video driver: uvcvideo
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1bcf:28b8
  Hub-2: 1-4:3 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 05e3:0610
  Device-1: 1-4.1:5 info: China Resource Semico USB Keyboard type: Keyboard,HID
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s chip-ID: 1a2c:4094
  Device-2: 1-4.2:6 info: USB OPTICAL MOUSE type: Mouse,Keyboard driver: hid-generic,usbhid
    rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s chip-ID: 4e53:5407
  Device-3: 1-8:4 info: Qualcomm Atheros type: Bluetooth driver: btusb rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 0cf3:e007
  Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 6 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
  Hub-4: 2-4:2 info: Genesys Logic USB3.1 Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 5 Gb/s chip-ID: 05e3:0620
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C pch: 48.5 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Repos:
  Packages: 2518 apt: 2511 flatpak: 7
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/megasync.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/meganz-archive-keyring.gpg] https: //mega.nz/linux/repo/xUbuntu_22.04/ ./
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com vera main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
    1: deb http: //repository.spotify.com stable non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntuhandbook1-conkymanager2-jammy.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/ubuntuhandbook1-conkymanager2-jammy.gpg] https: //ppa.launchpadcontent.net/ubuntuhandbook1/conkymanager2/ubuntu jammy main
Info:
  Processes: 274 Uptime: 3m Memory: 15.52 GiB used: 3.98 GiB (25.6%) Init: systemd v: 249
  runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Unknown python3.10 client inxi: 3.3.13

Here's the error that I get on boot only on Mint, only after applying a kernel update, but even if I revert back to previous kernel.

[SMG]

Once again, I got the kernel panic error on boot, despite having reverted to a snapshot.

That rather negates your statement the kernel is the problem.

I'm going to go back to Ubuntu 22.04 for the moment

Are you also encrypting Ubuntu and also creating two boot partitions (/boot and /boot/efi), each of which has a different file format?

How did you set up your Linux Mint install?

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Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.79 TiB used: 349.45 GiB (19.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 mapped: vgmint-root
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.61 GiB used: 283.3 MiB (17.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 14.4 MiB (2.8%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 976 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/dm-2
    mapped: vgmint-swap_1

as I need my laptop to actually boot more than I need the ergonomics of Mint, but if someone finds what is exactly the issue, it would be fantastic.

How is someone supposed to find the issue if you can not provide data from your install while investigating and troubleshooting? You seem to be making the assumption this is some fatal flaw in Linux Mint. Unfortunately for your theory, others are not having the same experience you are.

When you get done re-installing Ubuntu, please provide the output of

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inxi -Fxxxrz

and enclose the results within code tags as described in this tutorialDisplaying terminal output in a post.

Here's the error that I get on boot only on Mint, only after applying a kernel update, but even if I revert back to previous kernel.

If you do a search on that error, you'll see people have been getting it on Ubuntu for more than a decade.

[thenerdyguy]

-Yes I'm encrypting the hard drive on Ubuntu 22.04. In both cases, I don't change the default partition settings, I just check the box "Encrypt" and click on Next. Maybe when applying the kernel update on Mint, it changes something in the boot?

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System:
  Kernel: 5.19.0-38-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: GNOME 42.5
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM3 42.0
    Distro: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E5470 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 9 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0P88J9 v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: 1.34.3 date: 11/20/2022
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 56.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 56.7/62.0 Wh (91.5%)
    volts: 8.4 min: 7.6 model: Samsung SDI DELL TXF9M6B type: Li-poly
    serial: <filter> status: Full
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5-6200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    smt: enabled arch: Skylake rev: 3 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 501 high: 507 min/max: 400/2800 cores: 1: 507 2: 500
    3: 500 4: 500 bogomips: 19200
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 520] vendor: Dell driver: i915
    v: kernel ports: active: DP-4,HDMI-A-1,eDP-1
    empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1916
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Sunplus Innovation Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB
    driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-2:2 chip-ID: 1bcf:28b8 class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 compositor: gnome-shell driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 display-ID: :0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 5206x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1377x286mm (54.2x11.3")
    s-diag: 1406mm (55.4")
  Monitor-1: DP-1-3 mapped: DP-4 pos: primary,left model: ASUS VP228
    serial: <filter> res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 102
    size: 476x268mm (18.7x10.6") diag: 546mm (21.5") modes: max: 1920x1080
    min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: HDMI-1 mapped: HDMI-A-1 pos: primary,center model: WS_E11B_V51
    serial: <filter> res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 69 size: 708x398mm (27.9x15.7")
    diag: 587mm (23.1") modes: max: 1280x720 min: 640x350
  Monitor-3: eDP-1 pos: right model: Chi Mei Innolux res: 1366x768 hz: 60
    dpi: 112 size: 309x173mm (12.2x6.8") diag: 354mm (13.9") modes: 1366x768
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 520 (SKL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.2.5
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d70
    class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.19.0-38-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:156f class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Dell driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:003e class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-8:4
    chip-ID: 0cf3:e007 class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
    bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.2 sub-v: 25a hci-v: 4.2
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci
    v: 3.0 port: f060 bus-ID: 00:17.0 chip-ID: 8086:282a rev: N/A
    class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 9.22 GiB (0.5%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 2TB size: 1.82 TiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.79 TiB used: 8.94 GiB (0.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
    mapped: vgubuntu-root
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.61 GiB used: 285.3 MiB (17.3%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 1.91 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/dm-2 mapped: vgubuntu-swap_1
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0 C pch: 43.5 C mobo: 39.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Repos:
  Packages: 1747 apt: 1738 snap: 9
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
    1: deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy main restricted
    2: deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-updates main restricted
    3: deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy universe
    4: deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-updates universe
    5: deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy multiverse
    6: deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-updates multiverse
    7: deb http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    8: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security main restricted
    9: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security universe
    10: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security multiverse
Info:
  Processes: 237 Uptime: 6m wakeups: 2 Memory: 15.52 GiB
  used: 2.15 GiB (13.9%) Init: systemd v: 249 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: N/A
  Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.13

[SMG]

-Yes I'm encrypting the hard drive on Ubuntu 22.04. In both cases, I don't change the default partition settings, I just check the box "Encrypt" and click on Next. Maybe when applying the kernel update on Mint, it changes something in the boot?

The partitions look the same for both Linux Mint and Ubuntu. I don't normally help with those type of installation issues and am not that familiar with encryption (other than recognizing it is there).

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Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.79 TiB used: 8.94 GiB (0.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
    mapped: vgubuntu-root
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.61 GiB used: 285.3 MiB (17.3%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 1.91 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/dm-2 mapped: vgubuntu-swap_1

System:
Kernel: 5.19.0-38-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: GNOME 42.5
tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM3 42.0
Distro: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)

You can use this same kernel in Linux Mint. It's available in Update Manager. I don't know if that is a factor in this issue.

For future reference: Instructions for upgrading to the 5.19 kernel:

• Open Update Manager.
• Select View > Linux Kernels and click Continue.
• Make sure 5.19 is selected on the left panel and then click the top-most option on the right panel. An "Install" button will appear.
• Install the kernel and then reboot for it to become active.

Is secure boot enabled? You can check by running the following in a terminal

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mokutil --sb-state

The only real difference I'm seeing at this point is the kernel series in use and you can make both of them the same so they don't need to be different.

[thenerdyguy]

I redid a fresh install of Linux Mint.

As soon as I tried to reboot after the install, kernel panic. This is the first time, as it worked in previous times on a fresh install.

I'm reinstalling Ubuntu once again.

[SMG]

I redid a fresh install of Linux Mint.

As soon as I tried to reboot after the install, kernel panic. This is the first time, as it worked in previous times on a fresh install.

There is no one such thing as a kernel panic. There are a multitude of reasons a kernel panic can happen so we need to see the actual messages.

It's sounding like your computer may be having an issue with the 5.15 kernel. However, it's your choice as to whether to address that issue and right now it sounds like you do not want to do that.

Enjoy your Ubuntu install.

[thenerdyguy]

Plot twist, I had the kernel panic issue for the first time on Ubuntu.

I found an SSD external drive that was laying around in a box and installed Linux Mint with all the updates. It boots.

Culprit seems then to be the drive, I guess. What I'm wondering is why for a while it was on Ubuntu and why it happened, at first, only after kernel updates.

I'm going to order a new drive

[thenerdyguy]

I got the new drive.

This time, after installing and trying to boot, I either get a black screen or no boot device found.

[thenerdyguy]

I had installed it fine. I've applied the updates, including the kernel update. I rebooted. I've used it for 15 min. Then software refused to launch. I rebooted, GTO a black screen. Rebooted, got no boot device found.

Checked in Bios that I was in UEFI, secure boot disabled. Everything was fine. Now, it boots again.

[SMG]

That is quite the variety of outcomes. I am not familiar with that laptop to know if what you are seeing is unusual or not.

Maybe someone else will have ideas.

[thenerdyguy]

I applied boot-repair. It seems fine for now.

But with all the issues I had in the past weeks, I feel that something in my set-up is fragile or unreliable. I'm not sure what to do.

[ThaCrip]

Try running a RAM test with memtest.org (it's a bootable ISO file etc). but if your current computer is unreliable, you might have to get that setup using another computer and then insert it into your current computer that has the issues and let it run at least one full pass, which will take about 1 hour, but letting it run overnight with say 5-10 passes would be even better and see if it finds any errors.

also, it would be interesting to see whether Windows has issues on that setup or not. because if that acts up to, I would not be surprised if it's some hardware issue. because with you trying different SSD's etc the odds of all of those being bad is slim, so it's safe to say the SSD's are not the problem.

also, come to think of it... I would double check to make sure your Mint ISO is 100% working as if the ISO passes the SHA-256 hash, make sure your USB stick you are using is reliable. if you are not sure, try installing Mint from another USB stick as this will help ensure your ISO/USB stick is not at fault as maybe it's possible something is semi-corrupted on this causing the OS to act up.