Updating kernel question

Question

I'm running 14.04 and installed the 4.02 kernel several months ago because it supported my hardware better (ThinkPad T450s) than the 3.13 kernel.

When I run software update, however, it does not update the 4.x kernel at all -- just the 3.13 one.

I also see that 4.0.x is marked EOL at kernel.org and that 4.1.3 is now listed as the current stable kernel.

Questions:

Do I need to install the newest kernel manually as I did with 4.0 in the first place?
And what would happen if I just removed 3.13 from my system? Would that cause the Software Updater to look for 4.x updates?

Thanks!

How did you install the 4.02 kernel ? Install an newer kernel the same way =) — Panther, Jul 28 '15 at 17:25

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 28 '15 at 16:40

3

Kernels that are not supported by Ubuntu will never be updated.

You can install the latest stable supported Ubuntu kernel 3.19 by running

sudo apt-get install linux-generic-lts-vivid

It will get updates.

If you just remove 3.13, you will get no kernel updates at all.

answered Jul 28 '15 at 16:40

Pilot6

88,764
91
205
313

I get "E: Unable to locate package linux-generic-lts-vivid" – Michael Levy Jan 16 '22 at 16:13
This is an old answer for Ubuntu 14.04. – Pilot6 Jan 16 '22 at 16:17
Can you generalize your answer?? I think that my ubuntu update has a kernel that is not running my camera. So if you generalize your answer, you can be of service to the community. – Michael Levy Jan 16 '22 at 16:19
You'd better ask a new question. There is no generic answer for all releases and hardware. – Pilot6 Jan 16 '22 at 16:22

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 28 '15 at 20:29

I assume, you have installed the kernel manually without a PPA or from the Ubuntu repositories. Therefore you will never get an update and also not, if you remove you 3.x kernel.

To install a supported kernel, follow @Pilot6 answer or search a PPA for a kernel with version 4+.

Or install a kernel via deb packes from here, but you have to repeat this procedure for each new kernel version.

Eg (replace the filenames with you preferred kernel version):

Download the packages

For 64 bit systems

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.0-vivid/linux-headers-4.0.0-040000_4.0.0-040000.201504121935_all.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.0-vivid/linux-headers-4.0.0-040000-generic_4.0.0-040000.201504121935_amd64.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.0-vivid/linux-image-4.0.0-040000-generic_4.0.0-040000.201504121935_amd64.deb

For 32 bit systems

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.0-vivid/linux-headers-4.0.0-040000_4.0.0-040000.201504121935_all.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.0-vivid/linux-headers-4.0.0-040000-generic_4.0.0-040000.201504121935_i386.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.0-vivid/linux-image-4.0.0-040000-generic_4.0.0-040000.201504121935_i386.deb

Install the packages

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-4.0.0-*.deb linux-image-4.0.0-*.deb

Update grub
```
sudo update-grub
```
Reboot your system

Many thanks for replies -- I'll give this a try. (And yes, it's how I did it before.) — Dan Gillmor, Jul 29 '15 at 01:13
Installed without difficulty -- looks like I'll continue to do so until the meta its-wily packages are available. — Dan Gillmor, Jul 29 '15 at 01:57
Don't thank me! ;-) If you like my answer, just click the little grey **☑** under the "0" now turning it into beautiful green. If you do not like my answer, click on the little grey down-arrow below the 0, and if you *really* like my answer, click on the little grey checkmark *and* the little up-arrow... If you have any further questions, go to askubuntu.com/questions/ask — A.B., Jul 29 '15 at 04:40

Updating kernel question

2 Answers2

Linked