Boot process freezes dead after kernel update

[Piyavkin <piyavkin@gmail.com>]

Hi there,

I'm using Debian 7 Wheezy for a long time. In 2015-10-07 I've applied 
proposed upgrades:

libfreetype6:i386 2.4.9-1.1+deb7u1 2.4.9-1.1+deb7u2
linux-image-3.2.0-4-486:i386 3.2.68-1+deb7u4 3.2.71-2
linux-image-3.2.0-4-686-pae:i386 3.2.68-1+deb7u4 3.2.71-2
linux-headers-3.2.0-4-686-pae:i386 3.2.68-1+deb7u4 3.2.71-2
linux-headers-3.2.0-4-486:i386 3.2.68-1+deb7u4 3.2.71-2
linux-headers-3.2.0-4-common:i386 3.2.68-1+deb7u4 3.2.71-2
linux-libc-dev:i386 3.2.68-1+deb7u4 3.2.71-2

On the other day I wasn't able to boot up my system, because it freezes 
dead at boot process.
Just right before login screen should appear. In the moment the system 
switches from character-mode to graphical one, the system stuck forever 
with black screen and clock-shaped mouse pointer in the right bottom 
corner (mouse/touchpad or keyboard aren't active). The only option here 
is to turn off computer with hard power button.

No one of the stated above kernel versions or their rescue modes doesn't 
work. The same result (as described above) for all of them.

Though I've found that I can normally run any LiveCDs that I have 
(Xubuntu, Debian 7 — from which the system was installed).

And I can run any of the stated above kernels if I use kernel option 
«acpi=off» (modifying bootup command in the grub2 menu). It works as 
usual, except Gnom3 doesn't start (probably, requires some ACPI 
services), Gnome2 fallback starts instead, and the system doesn't switch 
off properly, may be something else.

I'm using Debian GNU/Linux 7.9 (wheezy), kernel version 3.2.0-4-686-pae 
(gcc version 4.6.3 (Debian 4.6.3-14)) on at least 7 years old Dell 
Inspiron 1525 notebook.


So, what should I do to solve the problem? Where to I can report the 
issue or ask for advice?

Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance!


Best regards,
Dmitry Piyavkin