Ubuntu
grub2 package

Cannot boot Ubuntu 11:04

Asked by Joseph T Murphy

I have two hard drives. One is for Ubuntu and the other for Windows XP. I Updated, step by step, from Linux 9:04 to Ubuntu 11:04. As you know it took hours but it went well and succeeded. Now, however, when I boot Ubuntu at first the screen shows the Ubuntu symbol and the long progress line beneath it and it scrolls and scrolls and scrolls and then a black screen appears with the following message.

Busybox v1.10.2 (ubuntu 1:1.10.2-2 ubuntu) built in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of buillt-in commands
(initramfs)_

I did not ask for the Terminal Version of Ubuntu, although I would like to know how to use it.

Is there something I can do besides going for all those updates again?

Thank you

J T Murphy

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Ubuntu grub2 Edit question
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Solved by:
Eliah Kagan
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Boot to live CD and you can fix grub easily
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/09/live-usb-sticking-grub-2-video/

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Joseph T Murphy (jmurphy191) said : 		#2

I don't have a CD.

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#3

How did you install Ubuntu?

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#4

I had been thinking you could reinstall GRUB2 even from your Ubuntu 9.04 CD. But actually, Ubuntu 9.04 did not use GRUB2. So that's not going to work.

So you'll have to download an Ubuntu live CD .iso image and either write it to a USB flash drive or burn it to a CD or DVD, then boot from it and reinstall GRUB2. It's possible that this will not fix your problem (not all problems where busybox displays instead of bootup finishing are due to the boot loader), but it very likely will, and it's the place to start.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling_GRUB2

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Joseph T Murphy (jmurphy191) said : 		#5

Used boot repair disk. Received following message:

0.340322] Initramfs unpacking failed. junk in compressed archive

0.755494] kernel panic-not syncing; VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown block (254.4)

J T Murphy

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#6

What disk did you use, exactly? Where did you obtain / how did you create it?

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Joseph T Murphy (jmurphy191) said : 		#7

I downloaded the Boot Repair Disk from Ubuntu Documentation and created a CD.

J T Murphy

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Joseph T Murphy (jmurphy191) said : 		#8

Right now I am burning a CD of ubuntu 11.04 that I downloaded.

But I am still thankful for your help.

J T Murphy

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Best Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#9

"Right now I am burning a CD of ubuntu 11.04 that I downloaded."

Please let us know how that goes, or if you have trouble reinstalling GRUB2 to the Master Boot Record using this CD.

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Joseph T Murphy (jmurphy191) said : 		#10

Thank You Eliah Kagan

Burning the CD has fixed the problem!

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Joseph T Murphy (jmurphy191) said : 		#11

Thanks Eliah Kagan, that solved my question.