Server dies after cenos kernel upgrade

Question

I am running a server with CentOS release 6.4 (Final) and the kernel version of 2.6.32-279.19.1.el6.x86_64 and everything looks ok, but when I do a yum update on the kernel to update it to a newer version "2.6.32-358.11.1.el6".

It will not restart after the required reboot. It will start to load until the task bar at the bottom gets to the end than it stops loading I have been patient with it unless it requires more time to start but after 10min it was still just sitting at the task bar.

This is a VM machine so I just revert to a previous snapshot, but what should I be looking for that would cause this, and how should I fix it?

Answer 1

I recall this happening to me in the past.
Hit esc when the loading bar starts to run across the screen and see what it stops on. Go into single user mode and see if you can look at the logs.
Can you select the older kernel when the grub pops up? You may have to use chkconfig to disable services from starting after you see whats in the way.