While 2.6.31-1 marks a bigger shift in kernel structure from 2.6.30-10, the older one seemed to have started working correctly after having brought about the first Green Screen of Death while booting with Ubuntu Linux. There were a few kernel upgrades to the older one which overcame the issues, I guess in grub.

Grub Options for 2.6.31-1

Ubuntu boots up until the stage where X starts

And then it drops to terminal

...with a screen pop-up showing failed X loading notification

Today’s upgrade to 2.6.31-1 was able to go past the grub stage and when the loading was complete, the display failed to load X. There was also some nvidia drivier update which might have destabilized the X, but apparently the X seems to be working correctly when I choose the older kernel at grub. So there must be some sort of a compatibility issue with the new nvidia update and the latest kernel.

This being the Alpha release, many packages are updated daily. It’s quite likely that a kernel patch would soon be out to make it play well with the nvidia driver. But so far, the easiest way to get X loaded is to boot using the older kernel, 2.6.30-10.