Downgrade Kernel

redneon · #1 16th July 2004, 10:08 PM

Can anyone tell me how it's possible to downgrade the Fedora Core kernel? For years I've been running a Slackware system where I'm used to configuring everything myself but I've now switched to Fedora Core 2 because I don't have much time anymore to mess around with things. I could just download the kernel I want from kernel.org but then I don't think it would be fully supported by the hardware detection system and other fancy things like that. It doesn't seem to be the standard way of doing it. I'm currently running 2.6.6 but there's some really strange problem with my mouse where it doesn't work properly on anything above 2.6.4. So I'm wanting to downgrade to 2.6.4 using an RPM if possible.

Please help,

Darrell

Ug · #2 18th July 2004, 08:31 AM

Well if you get the rpm, change into the directory and install the kernel with

Code:

rpm -ivh <kernel-package name>

This will install the kernel alongside your existing kernels. Grub should pick it up automatically next time you boot, and then you can just select it to run it. To uninstall the kernel package 2.6.6, you will need to boot into the 2.6.4 kernel and know the kernel package name. THen issue

Code:

rpm -ev <kernel package name>

Lenard · #3 18th July 2004, 04:24 PM

Make the installing of the earlier kernel something like; rpm -i kernel-<version_number> --oldpackage

drtbalu · #4 23rd July 2004, 12:23 AM

It is safer to use synaptic gui for apt to remove / downgrade the kernel

rkl · #5 24th July 2004, 12:22 PM

When Fedora Core 2 test releases jumped to 2.6.5, they horribly broke PS/2 support for certain brands of mice (this is a kernel 2.6.5+ issue, not FC's fault). Mine was affected and rather than downgrade, I bought a couple of PS/2 optical mice from www.ebuyer.com (worked out to be 4.44 pounds each!) which worked fine with FC2 (and now FC3T1).

I was lucky that I wanted an optical mouse cos my home and work ball-driven mice were always getting bunged up with dirt. It's a "Chic" mouse - quite large compared to most mice, but I've got used to that. You may find that spending a few pounds/dollars might actually be easier than messing around downgrading kernels to fix a mouse issue.

DarkDave · #6 9th August 2004, 10:35 PM

I had this same problem with my Logitech PS/2 Trackball. This problem also affects the 2.6.6 and 2.6.7 kernel builds from the Fedora Updates.

I ended up re-compiling the 2.6.7 kernel from kernel.org to get the problem to go away. If you want to rebuild the kernel from the source rpm, you have to edit the default config file from the kernel source tarball before rebuilding from the spec file. Or you can try to build a kernel from a source tree downloaded from kernel.org.

The setting to modify to get your PS/2 mice to work correctly is:

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_PSAUX

Enable this option (=Y) and rebuild your kernel. Then use the /dev/psaux entry for your mouse in the Xorg.conf file, and the /etc/sysconfig/gpm file.

I find it's more of a pain in the butt to try and re-build the FC2 kernel that comes with the distro than it is to download and build the kernel directly from the source. But YMMV, so try it out.

drunken-wallaby · #7 9th September 2004, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ug

Well if you get the rpm, change into the directory and install the kernel with

Code:

rpm -ivh <kernel-package name>

This will install the kernel alongside your existing kernels. Grub should pick it up automatically next time you boot, and then you can just select it to run it. To uninstall the kernel package 2.6.6, you will need to boot into the 2.6.4 kernel and know the kernel package name. THen issue

Code:

rpm -ev <kernel package name>

hello, i tried to follow your instructions to downgrade my kernel (2.6.8.1 to 2.6.7) because of several things (k3b,...).

however,

Code:

rpm -ivh <kernel-package-name>

leads to the following error

Code:

Preparing,... ################# [100%]
package kernel-2.6.8.1 (which is newer than kernel-2.6.7) is already installed

is there a possibility to install the older kernel though? thanks in advance for your reply...

ilja · #8 9th September 2004, 05:18 PM

add --oldpackage as Lenard allready mentioned. But afaik before the package name. Or doesn't it matter?

drunken-wallaby · #9 9th September 2004, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilja

add --oldpackage as Lenard allready mentioned. But afaik before the package name. Or doesn't it matter?

oh sorry, i read over this option. mea culpa and thx for your answer...

kosmosik · #10 9th September 2004, 05:28 PM

actually it would be better to fix your mouse than downgrade

you can check other kernels compiled for Fedora. here you have desktop enhanced (some patches I don't really see difference but maybe your mice will work with this):
http://apt.bea.ki.se/kernel-desktop/