kernel installed by automatic update are not added in menu.lst

What is the output of:

lsb_release -a; uname -a

Thanks

uname -a
Linux tolede 2.6.32-45-generic #99-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 16 16:26:56 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS
Release: 12.04
Codename: precise

Try:

sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-image-2.6*
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

What is the output?

Thanks

Why do you want me to remove those kernel?

I am currently running on of them and I like having other as backup.

I found this problem investigating why the sound is not working with the 3.2.0-32 :

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/230924

There are a couple of other thing that are not working with 3.2.0-32.

Ok, what is the output of :

sudo update-grub

Thanks

What is the output of the commands

dpkg -l | grep grub
sudo dpkg --audit

dpkg -l | grep grub

ii grub 0.97-29ubuntu66 GRand Unified Bootloader (Legacy version)
ii grub-common 1.99-21ubuntu3.9 GRand Unified Bootloader (common files)

sudo dpkg --audit

[nothing]

sudo update-grub

Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-48-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-45-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-44-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-43-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-41-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-39-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-38-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-37-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-36-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-35-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-34-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-33-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-32-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-45-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-44-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-43-generic
Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done

It seems to me that you are still running the old grub boot loader and not the newer grub2. (I miss the grub-pc package in the dpkg -l output.)

To verify that please provide the output of these commands:

which update-grub
dpkg-query -S */update-grub
grub-mkconfig --version

Please provide also some more information about your system:
Is it a desktop system with a X11 GUI, or a server used with text mode only, etc.
I guess you have installed your system some years ago and upgraded from version to version - is that the case?

You are running the kernels for ubuntu Lucid, which are no longer updated, and therefore should not be used due to security issues. You should switch to 3.2

@hamishmb -- I am running the one that works, I am trying to switch to 3.2, but I have a lot of issue with 3.2.0-32 and the other are not in the menu.

The system has xubuntu installed, however it has been used mostly headless. I installed the previous LTS and upgraded directly to the current one.

which update-grub

/usr/sbin/update-grub

 dpkg-query -S '*/update-grub'

grub: /usr/sbin/update-grub
grub: /sbin/update-grub

The update-grub in /sbin is wrapper that calls the one in /usr/sbin

 grub-mkconfig --version

grub-mkconfig (GRUB) 1.99-21ubuntu3.9

Then you are not using Grub, you are using Grub2. Grub2 does not use menu.list. It uses a number of configuration scripts to ultimately generate /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Grub.cfg is NOT to be modified manually and instead the config files it uses to make grub.cfg are to be modified, you can then run:

sudo update-grub

to apply the changes.

@andrew-woodhead666

There is no file /boot/grub/grub.cfg on my system. As mention previously sudo update-grub outputs :

Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done

What make you think I am using grub2 and not grub?

I have been investigating update-grub to understand what does not work.

First, it generate a file called $buffer, which contains all the kernel. Then at line 1512, it does :

if ! grep -q "^$start" $menu ; then

I think this if is there to check if the menu.lst contains ### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
and to replace only that part when it exist. After that if does :

    umask 077
    sed -e "/^$start/,/^$end/{
 /^$start/r $buffer
 d
 }
 " $menu > $menu.new
    cat $menu.new > $menu
    rm -f $buffer $menu.new

The result of the sed statement that is store in $menu.new is exactly the original file. I think this is a bug in the script. I don't know the sed syntax, I would appreciate if a sed expert can explain me what this line should do and if it look ok or not?

1. The meaning of the sed command is the following:
a. first it checks if there is the occurence of the start sequence (###BEGIN...) in the menu file - if not, the current contents of buffer are copied as new menu file.
b. else all contents between start sequence and end sequence are replaced by the buffer and the old contents removed.

2. BUT: The file is the update-grub script from the outdated old grub package, not from the current grub2 version!

There seems to be a strange combination of packages from grub and grub2 installed.

My recommendation: Check what would happen if you try upgrading from grub to grub2.
Issue the command

apt-get --simulate install grub2

and copy/paste all output as done before.