[rhn-users] kernel-smp-2.4.21-37.0.1.EL: missing initrd-2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp.img

[Donna Hanlon]

Hi redhat-users,

Yesterday, I ran up2date on my Dell Precision 650N to install 
kernel-smp-2.4.21-37.0.1.EL to patch the vulnerability described by 
Security Advisory - RHSA-2006:0140-9.  All seemed to install fine, and 
my /boot directory has these files:

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       606200 Jan 11 17:51 
System.map-2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        48851 Jan 11 17:51 
config-2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      3547796 Jan 11 17:52 
vmlinux-2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      1252578 Jan 11 17:59 
vmlinuz-2.4.21-37.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       578715 Jan 11 17:59 
System.map-2.4.21-37.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        48736 Jan 11 17:59 
config-2.4.21-37.0.1.EL
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      2908628 Jan 11 18:00 
vmlinux-2.4.21-37.0.1.EL

But my grub.conf was not updated, so I manually updated it.  When I did 
so, I noticed there was no initrd-2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp.img in the /boot 
directory, so I cited initrd-2.4.21-37.ELsmp.img in grub.conf, and was 
able to boot successfully into the 2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp kernel.  But I 
wondered about it enough to check two other workstations also upgraded 
the previous day.  These workstations did have a 
/boot/initrd-2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp.img that was dated the day I booted 
into the kernel -- not Jan 11 like the other /boot files for the kernel 
upgrade.  Thinking this file might build automagically, I tried 
modifying the grub.conf to cite initrd-2.4.21-37.0.1.ELsmp.img rather 
than initrd-2.4.21-37.ELsmp.img, but I wasn't able to boot into this 
kernel; I got an error saying it couldn't find this file.

Has anyone else seen this kind of problem or can shed some light on it 
for me?

Am I better off booting into the new kernel with the old initrd file or 
sticking with the old kernel?

Donna