Why are upgrades being held back?

Open synaptic, search for the packages that are being held back, select one at a time and click on the Package menu and make sure they are not locked (clear the "Lock Version" check-box).

I just checked and with jaunty-security, jaunty-updates, and jaunty-backports activated my current linux-generic is version 2.6.28.11.15. Maybe you had jaunty-proposed activated on the old system?

Okay, first off, thank you for your response and time. Secondly, the packages held back do not seem to be locked. Third, I probably was using jaunty-proposed, but that should not matter, because I've already set this installation to be jaunty-proposed as well.

Also to note; Through Synaptic Package Manager, the attempt to upgrade any of the affected packages is denied.
linux-headers-generic:
 Depends: linux-headers-2.6.28-13-generic but it is not installable
linux-image-generic:
 Depends: linux-image-2.6.28-13-generic but it is not installable
linux-generic:
  Depends: linux-image-generic (=2.6.28.13.17) but 2.6.28.11.15 is to be installed
  Depends: linux-restricted-modules-generic (=2.6.28.13.17) but 2.6.28.11.15 is to be installed
linux-restricted-modules-generic:
 Depends: linux-restricted-modules-2.6.28-13-generic but it is not installable
This occurs in any order in which I try. Further, "Mark All Upgrades" will not work either. When using Update Manager, these packages are in grey.

Am I doing something wrong? Is my attempt to grab these packages futile?

They are being held backas they are not wholly necessary. The updates held bac in your text is a new kernel. If the kernel you are using is working perfectly then you dont have to worry about installing it. You get far too many idiots who think newer is better, with the kernel this is simply not the case. The kernel gives memory and hardware access, if what you have is doing just that then you have no reason to install it.

They can also be held back due to the fact that the repository maintainers havent put up all the dependancies of a package and installing it will cause issues so they are marked as held back.

If you are dead set on installing it you can do so with:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

But the fact of the matter is, you shouldn't ave to do this. If it doesnt come down with apt-get upgrade, or you don't know why you need the upgrade then you probably don't need to worry about it

P.S. It is valid that the package maintainers have held it back, but no one else seems to have the same problem; so your sources.list might be at fault as well.

The truth is that I am having problems getting my graphics card to work with a few specific programs. Hence the reason for my attempt at using the new kernel. Of course, I've been pounding my head against wall after wall with these programs and checking just about every forum I can think of that might be relevant.

Thank you for the continued assistance. I'm the only person in my circle of associates who's even attempting anything other than Windows, although I've got a few people who are interested. I'm infinitely grateful for your attention.

I'll try the aptitude method.

Okay, aptitude got a bit further than apt-get.
Running aptitude, it said that my existing packages were "broken", and removed each of them, one at a time. Even though I did have to go through this 4 times, it seemed to fix it, as there is no longer the issue of "upgrades" that I can't perform. The packages are still 2.6.28-11, but at least synaptic no longer tells me that an upgrade is available, and then not upgrade it.

I think I've also spotted the reason why I can't get to 2.6.28-13. It needs a package that isn't actually available, yet. So, I'll be satisfied with this solution for now.

Once again, thanks for the help.

Thanks Derek White, that solved my question.

You're welcome!

And, I hope that once the new kernel is fully available to you your problems will go away. Many times, each kernel is built with different options enabled/disabled. If you happen to figure out a specific kernel option is at fault (easier said than done), then you can try building your own kernel from source and setting the option manually.

Good luck to you.