Debian Ubuntu and Linux Mint Broken Kernel After Date - New Extra Module Naming Convention

I don't consider a lot of these "extra" kernel modules "nice to have" as they often contain drivers for essential items like your soundcard, your NIC and many other devices that may not work.  Sometimes you may find that "sound" or "ethernet" worked before a kernel/OS upgrade and now in the new version they don't.  Often it will be because you need to install the "extra" kernel modules.

One other weird thing is that sometimes running this "dpkg -l|grep linux-modules-extra-`uname -r`" will show that the extra modules are installed.  However, it is often out of date, so you should still run the command below to mindlessly install the extra kernel modules as a first step when troubleshooting "why my sound/NIC/device is not working" and then reboot your system.

Note that newer modern Debian based Linux uses this format: linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-184-generic

To mindlessly just make sure you have all 'extra modules' just run this:

sudo apt install linux-modules-extra-`uname -r`

 

This is something I've seen some run into.  Take an old install of Linux Mint 18.1

ii  linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic          4.4.0-53.74                                amd64        Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-extra-4.4.0-53-generic    4.4.0-53.74                                amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
 

The highlighted linux-image-extra-4.4.0-53-generic is the old naming convention of how we would make "our extra devices work".  Generally it includes extra drivers/kernel modules and for a lot of devices that I use (including often things like display drivers and especially NIC and Wifi cards).  So to be in the Debian/Mint/Buntu world these "extra" modules are not really optional.

Now take a look at a new 4.4.0 kernel if we try to use the same "extra" convention to get those modules:

sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-4.4.0-150-generic

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree      
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-image-extra-4.4.0-150-generic
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-image-extra-4.4.0-150-generic'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-image-extra-4.4.0-150-generic'

It can't find it as we can see above

Let's do a search of all kernel packages for the version 4.4.0-150-generic:

apt-cache search 4.4.0-150
linux-buildinfo-4.4.0-150-generic - Linux kernel buildinfo for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-buildinfo-4.4.0-150-lowlatency - Linux kernel buildinfo for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-cloud-tools-4.4.0-150 - Linux kernel version specific cloud tools for version 4.4.0-150
linux-cloud-tools-4.4.0-150-generic - Linux kernel version specific cloud tools for version 4.4.0-150
linux-cloud-tools-4.4.0-150-lowlatency - Linux kernel version specific cloud tools for version 4.4.0-150
linux-headers-4.4.0-150 - Header files related to Linux kernel version 4.4.0
linux-headers-4.4.0-150-generic - Linux kernel headers for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-headers-4.4.0-150-lowlatency - Linux kernel headers for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-image-4.4.0-150-generic - Signed kernel image generic
linux-image-4.4.0-150-lowlatency - Signed kernel image lowlatency
linux-image-unsigned-4.4.0-150-generic - Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-image-unsigned-4.4.0-150-lowlatency - Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-modules-4.4.0-150-generic - Linux kernel extra modules for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-modules-4.4.0-150-lowlatency - Linux kernel extra modules for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic - Linux kernel extra modules for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-tools-4.4.0-150 - Linux kernel version specific tools for version 4.4.0-150
linux-tools-4.4.0-150-generic - Linux kernel version specific tools for version 4.4.0-150
linux-tools-4.4.0-150-lowlatency - Linux kernel version specific tools for version 4.4.0-150

 

The naming convention has changed and is now modules-extra "linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic" and this is what we need to install now.

 

sudo apt-get install linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree      
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 737 not upgraded.
Need to get 36.6 MB of archives.
After this operation, 156 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic amd64 4.4.0-150.176 [36.6 MB]
Fetched 36.6 MB in 3s (11.2 MB/s)                                
Selecting previously unselected package linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic.
(Reading database ... 252360 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic_4.4.0-150.176_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic (4.4.0-150.176) ...
Setting up linux-modules-extra-4.4.0-150-generic (4.4.0-150.176) ...
Processing triggers for linux-image-4.4.0-150-generic (4.4.0-150.176) ...
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms:
Error! echo
Your kernel headers for kernel 4.4.0-150-generic cannot be found at
/lib/modules/4.4.0-150-generic/build or /lib/modules/4.4.0-150-generic/source.
Error! echo
Your kernel headers for kernel 4.4.0-150-generic cannot be found at
/lib/modules/4.4.0-150-generic/build or /lib/modules/4.4.0-150-generic/source.
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-150-generic
Warning: No support for locale: en_CA.utf8
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub:
Generating grub configuration file ...
Warning: Setting GRUB_TIMEOUT to a non-zero value when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is set is no longer supported.
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-150-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-150-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-53-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-53-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /memtest86+.elf
Found memtest86+ image: /memtest86+.bin
done


Tags:

debian, ubuntu, linux, mint, kernel, module, naming, conventionthis, ve, install, ii, generic, amd, smp, modules, highlighted, convention, quot, devices, generally, includes, drivers, display, nic, wifi, buntu, optional, sudo, apt, lists, dependency, unable, locate, couldn, glob, regex, packages, cache, buildinfo, lowlatency, headers, header, unsigned, installed, upgraded, newly, mb, archives, additional, disk, http, archive, xenial, updates, fetched, selecting, previously, unselected, database, directories, currently, preparing, unpack, generic_, _amd, deb, unpacking, processing, triggers, etc, postinst, dkms, echo, lib, initramfs, update, generating, initrd, img, locale, en_ca, utf, zz, grub, configuration, grub_timeout, grub_hidden_timeout, supported, vmlinuz, memtest, elf, bin,

Latest Articles

  • How to install Windows or other OS and then bring to another computer by using a physical drive and Virtual Machine with QEMU
  • PXE-E23 Error BOOTx64.EFI GRUB booting is 0 bytes tftp pxe dhcp solution NBP filesize is 0 Bytes
  • vagrant install on Debian Mint Ubuntu Linux RHEL Quick Setup Guide Tutorial
  • RHEL 8 CentOS 8, Alma Linux 8, Rocky Linux 8 System Not Booting with RAID or on other servers/computers Solution for dracut and initramfs missing kernel modules
  • How to Upgrade to Debian 11 from Version 8,9,10
  • Ubuntu Linux Mint Debian Redhat Cannot View Files on Android iPhone USB File Transfer Not Working Solution
  • Virtualbox Best Networking Mode In Lab/Work Environment without using NAT Network or Bridged
  • debootstrap how to install Ubuntu, Mint, Debian install
  • Linux grub not using UUID for the root device instead it uses /dev/sda1 or other device name solution
  • How To Restore Partition Table on Running Linux Mint Ubuntu Debian Machine
  • Debian Ubuntu apt install stop daemon questions/accept the default action without prompting
  • iptables NAT how to enable PPTP in newer Debian/Ubuntu/Mint Kernels Linux
  • Grandstream Phone Vulnerability Security Issue Remote Backdoor Connection to 207.246.119.209:3478
  • Linux How to Check Which NIC is Onboard eth0 or eth1 Ubuntu Centos Debian Mint
  • VboxManage VirtualBox NAT Network Issues Managment Troubleshooting
  • Dell PowerEdge Server iDRAC Remote KVM/IP Default Username, Password Reset and Login Information Solution
  • Nvidia Tesla GPUs K40/K80/M40/P40/P100/V100 at home/desktop hacking, cooling, powering, cable solutions Tutorial AIO Solutions
  • Stop ls in Linux Debian Mint CentOS Ubuntu from applying quotes around filenames and directory names
  • Thunderbird Attachment Download Error Corrupt Wrong filesize of 29 or 27 bytes Solution
  • Generic IP Camera LAN Default IP Settings DVR