How to Rollback Your Linux Kernel on Ubuntu!
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TL;DR
If you just want the steps you need to take follow them here. If you want some information on how they fit together and why, feel free to read below
# you will need to install a few prereq's most likely sudo apt install aptitude curl aria2 libaria2-0 cd /tmp && wget -c https://github.com/teejee2008/ukuu/releases/download/v18.9.1/ukuu-v18.9.1-amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i ukuu-v18.9.1-amd64.deb ukuu --list # pick the kernel you want from the list (ex. v4.19.125 below) sudo ukuu --install v4.19.125 sudo apt install grub-customizer sudo grub-customizer
Background
I have a little ‘server’ I bought back in 2012 (Foxconn NTA350) which has been faithfully serving me since then as a HTPC (running mythv, recording via SiliconDust 2-Tuner OTA Tuner). Historically, it’s been bulletproof. I initially started with mythbuntu distribution, they recently stopped supporting that so I’ve gone to the mainstream ubuntu distribution and it’s been largely fine. It ran in my basement, headless, happily, for years.
Problem
Then linux 5.x changed everything. When I upgraded to 20.04 LTS, the new 5.x kernels came with the upgrade. Immediately I had issues with my Sabrent dual-bay external USB Drive that I have plugged in. I couldn’t go more than a couple days (at absolute best) without my server hanging on me. I troubleshot things (I’ll save you the gory details but in the end there was nothing but a reboot that could fix it, and the load would go from decimals to double digits

I also would see the following errors in my logs, and at this point the drive was hung and if I tried to access the mountpoint (or mythtv or any apps tried to use the drive) they would block waiting for i/o (which could never come).
Jun 29 20:20:35 tiny-myth kernel: [85834.433030] xhci_hcd 0000:04:00.0: WARN Cannot submit Set TR Deq Ptr
Jun 29 20:20:35 tiny-myth kernel: [85834.433052] xhci_hcd 0000:04:00.0: A Set TR Deq Ptr command is pending.
Jun 29 20:20:35 tiny-myth kernel: [85834.565209] usb 9-2: reset SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
Jun 29 20:21:06 tiny-myth kernel: [85865.665815] xhci_hcd 0000:04:00.0: WARN Cannot submit Set TR Deq Ptr
Jun 29 20:21:06 tiny-myth kernel: [85865.665838] xhci_hcd 0000:04:00.0: A Set TR Deq Ptr command is pending.
Jun 29 20:21:06 tiny-myth kernel: [85865.805725] usb 9-2: reset SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
This led me to the following github issues (for raspberry Pi, but it’s the same issue) which is still being actively discussed as of late June 2021 (I’ll try to update as this changes).
Solution
The ‘resolution’ for the above (only thing that works as of now) is to rollback your kernel version to 4.19, which I had no idea how to do and felt nervous about rolling back YEARS given I had updated my Ubuntu to 21.04 in an attempt to see if this issue went away (it didn’t).
So without further ado, here’s the steps!
Install/Use ukuu
ukuu allows you to look at the kernels that are available for Ubuntu and will automate the installation of the kernels. It used to be available for free/open source but has been shifted to a pay model. I didn’t choose the pay option but used the (still legit/legal) open sourced version on github. Installing old kernels isn’t something I do, I didn’t think I’d get my “money’s worth” out of the app, that said if I need this again I’ll likely throw $15 to the author because it does make this process easy and everyone deserves compensation for their time if you get enough value (you determine when this threshold is!).
# you will need to install a few prereq's most likely sudo apt install aptitude curl aria2 libaria2-0 cd /tmp && wget -c https://github.com/teejee2008/ukuu/releases/download/v18.9.1/ukuu-v18.9.1-amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i ukuu-v18.9.1-amd64.deb
Now that it’s installed, you can list out the kernels you can try
ukuu --list
You should see something like below
jim@tiny-myth:~$ ukuu --list ukuu v18.9.1 Distribution: Ubuntu 21.04 Architecture: amd64 Running kernel: 4.19.125-0419125-generic Kernel version: 4.19.125-0419125-generic Cache: /home/jim/.cache/ukuu Temp: /tmp/ukuu/42wM4AFE aria2c version: 1.35.0 Fetching index from kernel.ubuntu.com… OK Found installed: 4.19.125-0419125.202005271314 Found installed: 5.11.0-22.23 Found installed: 3.13.0.158.168 Found installed: 5.11.0.22.23 Found installed: 5.8.0-59.66 ====================================================================== Available Kernels v5.11.0-22.23 5.11.0.22.23 Installed v5.8.0-59.66 5.8.0.59.66 Installed v5.6.17 5.6.17 v5.6.16 5.6.16 v5.6.15 5.6.15 v5.6.14 5.6.14 v5.6.13 5.6.13 ....
Now you can install the version you want (v4.19.125 for our purposes)
sudo ukuu --install v4.19.125
That’s it. You now have the right kernel installed and can select it from Grub on a reboot. HOWEVER, it would be nicer if we could adjust this and make it the default in Grub, right?
Boot Kernels by Default
Grub
Grub is how linux sets up the bootloader. Grub is a pain. It’s normally taken care of by the distribution, and 99.9% of the time that’s fine and you’ll never have to worry about it nor should you care. But since we’re taking over for the distribution default kernel we’ll have to manage this ourselves.
You can look at the grub default for what kernel is booted by performing
cat /etc/default/grub
And looking for the ‘GRUB_DEFAULT’ setting. It’s typically a number and is the index of the kernel in the order that’s in the grub configuration. This is ALSO a pain to figure out the right number to change it to. Luckily there’s a utility for this as well, ‘grub-customizer’. This will allow us a graphical tool to select the kernel we want to use and it will make the change to the /etc/default/grub file
Install grub-customizer
Run the following command to install grub-customizer
sudo apt install grub-customizer
Then fire it up
sudo grub-customizer
Then select the ‘General’ tab and the kernel you’d like to be the default in the ‘predefined’ dropdown

The End
At this point you should be able to reboot and the new kernel should be selected (if you selected it in grub-customizer).
If this helped, let me know in the comments. I couldn’t find straightforward information on how to rollback a kernel and this did the job without a lot of fuss so I thought I’d write it down in case someone else benefited.
Cheers! 🙂
Given that you’re running an x86 kernel, this might be a different issue than what the Raspberry Pi folks are seeing. Did you report this to Ubuntu? https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+filebug
I did not report it. I will report it though, thanks. 🙂
Reported:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1934701
Will see how it goes and what else I can add.