I have already warned about broken kernel after upgrade to Fedora 17. The issue is worse than we expected. We thought it would hit only users using development version of Fedora and it would work OK after Fedora 17 is officially released. It’s not the case, the details are in bugs 820351, 826537 and 820340. I hope the fix will be ready soon, in the meantime:
- The current recommended order of upgrade methods is following: using Network install CD, using Install DVD, using preupgrade.
- If you use Network install CD, you should not encounter any kernel problems after upgrade, Fedora 17 kernel should be installed and booted by default.
- If you use Install DVD, your kernel will not be updated to Fedora 17 version, so you will get kernel panic on every shutdown. Just run as root
$ yum update
to fix the issue.
- If you use preupgrade, the new Fedora 17 kernel will be installed, but it won’t be listed in GRUB boot menu and you’ll boot the old Fedora 16 version instead. This is hardest to fix. As root you have to run
$ grub2-install /dev/sda $ grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
You should replace /dev/sda with your disk you want to install bootloader on. Usually it is /dev/sda, but in some cases it might be different.
EDIT 2012-06-04: This problem seems to be fixed now.
I hope the preupgrade issue will be fixed in the near future and the extra step won’t be necessary. DVD upgrades can’t be fixed, but in their case the problem is not that crucial as the preupgrade issue.
Kparal's Fedora Blog 
Hmm, and what about fresh installation? I mean, that is unaffected by this curious bug?
Fresh installations are not affected.
I used the “fix” for using preupgrade to install 17 over an updated 16. Command ran fine but Grub config file still does not have the 17 kernel in it
Quick update….. I found this command on another blog… it seemed to do the trick
grub2-mkconfig > /etc/grub2.cfg && grub2-install /dev/sda
Updated in the blogpost. It really seems necessary in some cases. Another issue.
@Kamil, the commands need to be grub2-mkconfig first, then the grub2-install, so that you install the config file after you make it…
I discussed it and I was told the current order is the correct one.
Also, never use > after grub2-mkconfig. Always use -o.
DVD upgrade should work fine if you enable the updates repository.
Does the DVD let you do that on upgrades now? Last I checked, it only allowed adding repositories for installs, not upgrades.
No, DVD doesn’t allow you to use network repositories.
i had the same problem, and that was the solution for it:
http://linuxfordummies.org/preupgrade-from-fedora-16-to-fedora-17-boots-to-old-fedora-16-kernel-issuefix/
The preupgrade issue should be fixed now.
Upgrade via DVD worked after typing grub2-install /dev/sda through recovery mode on DVD chroot.
New Problem, only on Kernel 3.3.7-1fc16 can I start Fedora 17. I had to reinstall the new kernel. Now it shows in grub2, but can only be loaded up to 99%, until Starting Network Manager Wait Online… , From then on nothing goes. Pushing short the on/off button Notebook shuts down without problem. yum update only stores all in tmp, but does no update. What now?
Quadruple thanks !!!!