Customer configured lilo bootloader for whatever reason ;-)

After applying on-line update which updated the kernel, the /etc/lilo.conf file contained a mismatching "default" directive. As a consequence, lilo did not correctly install and the system rebooted with the old kernel. The boot process then failed because the old /lib/modules were no longer present :-(

This is the lilo.conf file created when the kernel was updated. Please note that "default" does not refer to an existing "label".

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Mon Apr 16 13:38:40 UTC 2007
menu-scheme = Wb:kw:Wb:Wb
timeout = 80
lba32
change-rules
reset
read-only
prompt
default = Kernel-2.6.18.8-0.1-default
message = /boot/message
boot = /dev/cciss/c0d0

image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18.8-0.1-default
    label = Kernel-2.6.
    append = "   resume=/dev/cciss/c0d0p2 splash=silent showopts"
    vga = 0x317
    initrd = /boot/initrd-2.6.18.8-0.1-default
    root = /dev/cciss/c0d0p1