You don't have to update/upgrade the kernel to check out a newer version.

You should be able to install a newer kernel while keeping the old one as well. You can have multiple kernel versions installed and switch between them from the grub menu.

This way you can roll back to a working kernel, as it's still installed.

On updating: in Fedora, updating the kernel does keep the last two versions in place and removes only older versions. But that's not a rule for all distros. Depending on the package type and package manager configuration, some may not have the logic to do something like this, while some may just go with the default used in normal packages that removes the old versions. Depending on the distro, you may be able to create exceptions for Linux kernel packages, not to autoremove old ones (with the note that you will have to do your own bookkeeping for these packages).


That being said...

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Should I try again with a different newer kernel, or just wipe everything and do a fresh install of a non-LTS release?

Try a different kernel, there's no need for a fresh install.

On the GPU topic: if you're using closed source drivers like nvidia's, you may also need to rebuild the kernel modules, as there are bits and pieces of the driver that are not part of the kernel. Depending on the distro, this may be done automatically or you may need to trigger the modules rebuild manually. I can't give you more details on this part. Look on the web for "kernel modules", "akmod", "kmod".


For other GNU/Linux related subject, I recommend posting a new topic on Steam for Linux Discussions, as there are more Linux people watching those forums rather than "Hardware and Operating Systems".

I just don't know why people keep trying to swim up steam for no reason.

Do you game/use newer hardware? Use a faster updating distro.

Want a more solid platform that better tested? Then use LTS distros.

Stop trying to make one into the other.