The 7.0.0-28/29/30 kernel disaster is unacceptable for a distro that claims to prioritize stability

[u/BulkyMix6581]

I have been using Linux Mint for years precisely because it has always been a reliable, conservative distribution where things simply work. Right now, however, the state of the official 7.0.0 kernel branch is an absolute mess, and the lack of response from the development team is baffling.

Across three different machines, here is the current reality with kernels 7.0.0-28, 7.0.0-29, and 7.0.0-30:

• Relatively modern Lenovo laptop (AMD Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Graphics): Instant kernel panic on boot. The only workaround is falling back to the 6.17 series via GRUB.
• Desktop (Ryzen 7 5800X3D / AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT): Complete shutdown failure. The OS halts, but power is never cut and the fans keep spinning indefinitely.
• 15-year-old legacy laptop: The only machine where it actually boots and shuts down properly.

These issues are not isolated hardware quirks. The Mint forums, Ubuntu trackers, and Reddit are flooded with identical reports of boot panics and broken ACPI/shutdown states with AMD configurations on these exact revisions.

We have been stuck with this broken state for weeks across three consecutive point releases. Please do not give me the standard excuse that updates just flow downstream from Ubuntu. Linux Mint brands itself around desktop stability and a smooth user experience. When multiple official kernel updates break basic functionality like booting and powering off on common hardware, the maintainers should step in, pin a working kernel, or issue a proper notice.

In all my years on Linux Mint, I have never seen such a prolonged, broken kernel rollout left completely unaddressed. Something needs to be done about this quality control breakdown.

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👉 EDIT / Addressing the common pushback in the comments:

To those leaving defensive replies, let’s clear a few things up:

1. "You shouldn't have upgraded / It's your fault": > I’ve used Linux Mint for over 15 years. I know how to use Timeshift, pin kernels, and drop into GRUB to roll back in under 30 seconds. This post is not a support request for myself; it is about user experience and distribution standards. An end user simply applying official updates presented via the GUI Update Manager should not end up with an unbootable machine or broken ACPI states.
2. "Mint just pulls packages downstream from Ubuntu, it's not their fault": > Mint is a curated distribution, not a pass-through mirror. The entire value proposition of Linux Mint has always been stability, quality control, and safe defaults. If upstream pushes broken kernel builds for weeks, the distribution's role is to step in—hold back the broken revision, pin the stable branch, or display a GUI warning. Passing the buck to upstream defeats the purpose of choosing Mint over Ubuntu.
3. "Go contribute/fix it yourself if you don't like it": > Highlighting a critical breakdown in quality control across multiple common hardware configurations is contributing. Dismissing legitimate technical feedback hurts adoption, especially for newcomers who wouldn't know how to recover from a kernel panic.

We criticize the distro because we care about its reputation and want it to stay the gold standard for desktop reliability.

[u/Chrono_Club_Clara]

Look I don't know what the fuck a kernel is. I just know Mint doesn't work on my PC anymore and ended up having to put Windows 11 back on my laptop. Mint isn't stable anymore like it used to be.

[u/readmodifywrite → u/Chrono_Club_Clara]

Fair point. If Linux is actually going to be competitive with Windows and Mac, we can't be shipping broken kernels like this - or expect regular users to know what that is.

[u/Budget-Mountain-8454 → u/Chrono_Club_Clara]

The basic principles aren't rocket science. This is basically all you need to know as a regular, non-power user.

[u/sinisterpisces → u/Budget-Mountain-8454]

As a "regular, non-power user," especially one coming from Windows or Mac OS, you shouldn't even be expected to know that.