Raspberry Pi Zero 2W initial set up (apt update/apt dist-upgrade) results in kernel exception.

[g8kig]

Describe the bug

See title.

Potential OOBE experience problem. Potential for a corrupted file system.
Note I am only doing this because the existing image was doing an upgrade on did it too.

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

• Setting up Raspberry Pi 2W. Powered with official Raspberry Pi Micro USB style PSU.
• Flashed (proper SanDisk 32Gb SDCard) with RPI Imager.
• Selected Raspberry Pi Trixie with Desktop 32bit released 2026-06-18.
• SSH and Wifi configured automatically. Auto log-in.
• Boot. Switch to command prompt window. Get rid of unnecessary stuff Chromium, Firefox, Cups, BlueZ.
• 'apt update' then 'apt dist-upgrade -y'
  => Kernel exception and reboot and a big disappointment.

Device (s)

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

System

cat /etc/rpi-issue
Raspberry Pi reference 2026-06-18
Generated using pi-gen, https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen, 314262cb286b8f33327a6f0cbabe14c625021ca0, stage4

vcgencmd version
May 21 2026 11:21:57
Copyright (c) 2012 Broadcom
version 288930ab4712b99596f32732664aaaeb881ef1e0 (clean) (release) (start)

uname -a
Linux raspberrypi2w 6.18.34+rpt-rpi-v6 #1 Raspbian 1:6.18.34-1+rpt1 (2026-06-09) armv6l GNU/Linux

Logs

No response

Additional context

No response

[popcornmix]

Posting the kernel panic text may be useful.
Can you try adding "over_voltage=2" to config.txt, reboot and try the upgrade again?

[g8kig]

Tricky to capture because ssh is killed before the panic is displayed and it is over too quick to take a photo.
Is it possible to stop the automatic reboot somehow?
I think it has something to do with the swapper.
I gained the impression that the idle task is being killed.
Will add the change to config.txt.

[popcornmix]

Tricky to capture because ssh is killed before the panic is displayed and it is over too quick to take a photo.

recording a video may be good enough to extract a still frame. A UART is another option.

Is it possible to stop the automatic reboot somehow?

Try:
sudo sysctl -w kernel.panic=-1
before the upgrade command.