"vt: argh, driver_data is NULL"

The Hardy Heron kernel was recently uploaded for testing. We'd really appreciate it if you could try testing with this newer kernel and verify if this issue still exists. Unfortunately, the Hardy Heron Alpha1 LiveCD was released with the older 2.6.22 kernel. You'll have to manually install the newer Hardy Heron kernel in order to test. This should not be the case for Alpha2 which is set to come out around Dec 20. However, here are the instructions to install if you choose to do so, otherwise just wait for Alpha2 to come out:

1) edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy main restricted

2) sudo apt-get update
3) sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.24-1-generic
4) reboot and select the new kernel from the grub menu

After you've tested, please feel free to revert back - ie boot into the old kernel, sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.24-1-generic, and remove the line from /etc/apt/sources.list . Please update this report with your results. Thanks in advance!

Just a note that this report will remain open against the actively developed kernel (the 'linux' task). However, against linux-source-2.6.22 as it does not meet the criteria for a stable release update. You can learn more about the stable release update process at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates . Thanks!

Hardy Heron Alpha2 was recently released. It contains an updated version of the kernel. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha2 release from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/alpha-2/ . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. Please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. Thanks!

The bug is happening very sporadically, and since everything seems to work fine except for the message on shutdown, I wasn't pursuing this.
However, I now installed the following:
2007-12-24 01:29:06 install linux-image-2.6.24-2-386 <none> 2.6.24-2.4
2007-12-24 01:39:19 upgrade linux-restricted-modules-common 2.6.22.4-14.10 2.6.24.2-2.8
2007-12-24 01:39:20 install linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24-2-386 <none> 2.6.24.2-2.8
2007-12-24 02:00:24 upgrade libc6-dev 2.6.1-1ubuntu10 2.7-4ubuntu1
2007-12-24 02:00:26 upgrade libc6 2.6.1-1ubuntu10 2.7-4ubuntu1
2007-12-24 02:00:35 upgrade libc6-i686 2.6.1-1ubuntu10 2.7-4ubuntu1
2007-12-24 02:00:36 install nvidia-glx-legacy 1.0.7185+2.6.22.4-14.10 71.86.01+2.6.24.2-2.8

I chose this method over the live CD because I don't know whether the problem is related to the rest of my installation or not. And I also need the nvidia-legacy drivers (and thus the libc6 2.7) to keep my system useful. I was a bit worried that all hell might break loose when upgrading libc6, but so far no other packages or apps complained about it :-)
I will keep shutting down my system regularly using the console and report back.

Just as a feedback, I haven't seen the problem since switching to 2.6.24-2-386.

Thanks for the hint!

Hi Cruncher,

Thanks for testing and the feedback. I'm going to go ahead and mark this 'Fix Released' against the Hardy kernel. If you notice a regression please feel free to reopen. Also, please continue to report any new bugs that you may find, we really do appreciate it. Thanks!

Just got this problem with 2.6.27 in intrepid; will reopen if I reproduce.