To my surprise, this is happening even with the very latest qemu-kvm upstream git HEAD.
Host is an amd laptop with kernel: Linux ubuntu 2.6.32-43-generic-pae #97-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 5 16:59:17 UTC 2012 i686 GNU/Linux Guest kernel is vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-virtual -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Server Team, which is subscribed to qemu-kvm in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1047531 Title: Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise) guests can't boot on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid) QEMU- KVM host To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/qemu-kvm/+bug/1047531/+subscriptions -- Ubuntu-server-bugs mailing list Ubuntu-server-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server-bugs