Boots with old kernel after update and causing system to crash

Ask Fedora
1

Hello Fedora community!
I used Fedora for the first time today and I would like to document an issue I ran into in case it could help someone else. I ran into this issue with brand new hardware and immediately after installing Fedora, before I did anything with the system. So I think it’s one of those things that could trip up new users.

I bought a new Framework laptop, downloaded Fedora and installed it.
After booting up, I installed the automatic updates (which included a new kernel) and the system would freeze and/or crash when I tried to open Firefox. Sometimes it would freeze immediately before I even did anything.

Turns out it’s booting with the old kernel 6.11 instead of 6.13.
I fixed it by manually setting the default kernel:

first show the available kernels:

free-d-tek@fedora:~$ sudo grubby --info=ALL | grep “^title”
title=“Fedora Linux (6.13.5-200.fc41.x86_64) 41 (Workstation Edition)”
title=“Fedora Linux (6.11.4-301.fc41.x86_64) 41 (Workstation Edition)”
title=“Fedora Linux (0-rescue-67c0091834d04a2e95af1198a4002f5c) 41 (Workstation Edition)”

then show which version is default:

free-d-tek@fedora:~$ sudo grubby --default-kernel
/boot/vmlinuz-6.11.4-301.fc41.x86_64

then set the correct default:

free-d-tek@fedora:~$ sudo grubby --set-default=/boot/vmlinuz-6.13.5-200.fc41.x86_64
The default is /boot/loader/entries/67c0091834d04a2e95af1198a4002f5c-6.13.5-200.fc41.x86_64.conf with index 0 and kernel /boot/vmlinuz-6.13.5-200.fc41.x86_64

Here is my system information:

           /:-------------:\          free-d-tek@fedora
        :-------------------::        OS: Fedora 
      :-----------/shhOHbmp---:\      Kernel: x86_64 Linux 6.13.5-200.fc41.x86_64
    /-----------omMMMNNNMMD  ---:     Uptime: 47m
   :-----------sMMMMNMNMP.    ---:    Packages: 2055
  :-----------:MMMdP-------    ---\   Shell: bash 5.2.32
 ,------------:MMMd--------    ---:   Resolution: No X Server
 :------------:MMMd-------    .---:   DE: GNOME 47.3
 :----    oNMMMMMMMMMNho     .----:   WM: Mutter
 :--     .+shhhMMMmhhy++   .------/   WM Theme: Adwaita
 :-    -------:MMMd--------------:    GTK Theme: Adwaita [GTK2/3]
 :-   --------/MMMd-------------;     Icon Theme: Adwaita
 :-    ------/hMMMy------------:      Font: Cantarell 11
 :-- :dMNdhhdNMMNo------------;       Disk: 18G / 2.8T (1%)
 :---:sdNMMMMNds:------------:        CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7840U w/ Radeon 780M Graphics @ 16x 5.132GHz
 :------:://:-------------::          GPU: AMD Radeon 780M (radeonsi, phoenix, LLVM 19.1.7, DRM 3.61, 6.13.5-200.fc41.x86_64)
 :---------------------://            RAM: 4258MiB / 31383MiB

So far Fedora looks amazing and I think this laptop is going to be great. However, whenever I run into things like this I can just hear the windows and mac expats crying in the back of head. Hopefully this will help someone get over the hump. Thanks!

2

i have similar issue. installation was fine but after the first update which is pretty big, mouse cursor don’t even move fast. i will wait for sometime fedora team to fix this issue.
i’m wondering, how did you find out that your new kernel is not being used

3

After linux crashes it brings up the boot menu shown below and I noticed it had the old kernel selected by default. I then selected the newer one and everything worked fine. However, after rebooting it would go back to the old so I had to change the default.

Just in general, if you see an update that includes a new kernel and you start having major issues afterwards, kernel related issues is a likely culprit.

Screenshot From 2025-03-08 13-16-20
Screenshot From 2025-03-08 13-16-201302×223 85.9 KB

4

I tried one more install and that time, I tried just sudo dnf upgrade --bugfix --security but after the restart, I didn’t even be able to see login screen, it was just black. Thanks for your input

5

So you are installing the latest ISO and after updating the problem starts? Does it work fine before the update?

6

Yes, it is flawless before the update. The best KDE animation and effect show it was actually.

7

Could be a number of things, but I would start by looking through everything that’s included in the update to try and determine which could be causing the issue. You could install the update packages one by one to see which is causing the issue.

If you’re using old hardware, there could be a hardware compatibility issue. Or even with new hardware, something could be incompatible.

Could also try logging in with x11 instead of wayland or vice versa if that’s an option.

I’m just taking shots in the dark now, but just trying to give you some ideas.

1 Like
8

I had so much troubleshooting these days, I just settled on Debian for now but I will definitely check that out, maybe in Fedora 42.

9

I feel your pain, best of luck to you!

1 Like
10

Hey, I just found out that, in my case, mesa package with 25 version caused the problem I mentioned. This time I downgraded mesa* packages to 24.something and it works flawless.

11

The command uname -r always reveals the kernel that was booted.

$ uname -r
6.13.5-200.fc41.x86_64