[CentOS] system "stuck" with 2.6.18-128 kernel. how to move to 2.6.18-194.17?

Sun Oct 3 16:26:32 UTC 2010
John R Pierce <pierce at hogranch.com>

  On 10/03/10 9:16 AM, Barry Brimer wrote:
>> /etc/grub.conf points at 2.6.18-194.17, but when I reboot, 2.6.18-128
>> comes up.
> I am suspecting that you are looking at /etc/grub.conf which is supposed
> to be a symlink to /boot/grub/grub.conf and somehow this is no longer a
> symlink, but rather a file of its own, which is not being read.
>
> This is how this should look. (adjusted for screen wrap in a mail program)
>
> # ls -la /etc/grub.conf
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Sep 27  2008 /etc/grub.conf ->
> ../boot/grub/grub.conf
>
> What are the contents of your /boot/grub/grub.conf?  That is the actual
> file.  What is the default set to there?

also check what /boot is mounted....  the /etc/grub.conf file you showed 
thought that root was /dev/md1, is that the case?