Failure to mount root filesystem, cause unknown

Thanks for allocating this appropriately.

So, I fixed the booting problem with the following command:

sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.17-10-generic

I'm not sure what this implies. I made a backup of the previous initrd
image in case it would be useful for the bug report. Just say the word
and I will upload it.

--
Christopher Armstrong
International Man of Twistery
http://radix.twistedmatrix.com/
http://twistedmatrix.com/
http://canonical.com/

Please go ahead and attach the problematic initrd.gz to this bug report.

Thanks

Ok, here it is. The file is brand new as of Thursday, and that's when it was last modified: Thursday was when I upgraded to edgy using update-manager.

Same problem here.
But "sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.17-10-generic" don't help because the initramfs script don't even seem to exist for me.

You may need (like me) to create it before running the "sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.17-10-generic" command :
sudo mkinitramfs -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic 2.6.17-10-generic
sudo update-grub

A new initramfs-tools package has been released today, will test if it solve the problem.

If you need assistance on this feel free to contact me : <email address hidden>

Just for the record and for those who have the problem, here is how i solved it :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=282956

I ran into this problem as well, and Froden's steps worked for me, except I had to manually run 'depmod' before I rebooted or I got:

FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.17-10-generic/modules.dep: No such file or directory

Had the same problem, the fix posted above got mine working again too.

Scott, this sounds like the problem you were describing last week regarding the sort order used by update-initramfs.

Had the same problem here. Ran a combination of Frodon's and Christopher Armstrong's scripts:

sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.17-10-generic
sudo update-grub
sudo aptitude reinstall linux-restricted-modules-2.6.17-10-generic

Now everything seems to be running fine. Thank you!

I had the same problem on Edgy freshly updated from Dapper.
Booting from the i386 kernel and running "sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.17-10-generic" solve it.

Same problem and

  sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.17-10-generic

worked for me too. Thanks for the suggestion.

Same problem here, on a PIII@450MHz/768MB RAM/ASUS P3BF

   sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.17-10-generic

worked for me too.

Had this problem on a dual P3/733, 256MB RAM, Compaq AP550 workstation with Intel reference board.

I upgraded from -386 to -generic by installing the linux-kernel-generic package and changing my grub config.

The update-initramfs method worked for me as well.

Same problem here, on a AMD64 X2 3800+ / DFI nForce4 mobo

   sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.17-10-generic

worked like a charm, thanks for the fix

sudo update-initramfs not only works for edgy... it works for feisty fawn too!

i had the same problem over here with my 2.6.20-15-generic kernel, after updating initramfs ($ sudo update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.20-15-generic) everything worked fine...

i wonder why this bug still exists on feisty

Confirming this bug, it is still happening on Gutsy RC. Difference was I did a fresh installation, so no backup kernel to fall back to. Booted from the LiveCD, chrooted into the installation and then ran the commands specified here followed by depmod. Finally I'm able to boot into Ubuntu properly without this error.

This error still shows up on Gutsy Final, but now only once in a while. When it drops me to the shell I reboot, and almost all the time it boots properly. If it doesn't, I reboot again until it finally boots.

Please let me know if I can provide any information to help fix this.

it's the same with gutsy but running "update-initramfs -u" doesn't solve the problem

i solved changing /dev/sda2 with /dev/mapper/something2 both in grub and fstab

sori i'm a newbie... what do you mean by changing

"/dev/sda2 with /dev/mapper/something2" ????.......

i can't find the path "/dev/mapper/" should i make one?
i'm having the same problem for my notebook ACER 4520.. and hoping to fix it immediately...

thanks b4

Same problem with Acer 5520-5912 AMD64x2 with nVidia chipset, GeForce7000M video.
I have tried the above solutions and nothing has helped so far. Same problem in Gutsy RC fresh install and upgrade from feisty. Original Feisty did not have issue, but first kernel update caused the same problem.
Thanks.

Sorry, one more thing. I have installed 386 with gutsy and it works fine. Only the Generic does not work.

It appears this bug is affecting almost everyone using Acer Aspire 4520.
The following thread has a number of users reporting the freeze-during-boot issue:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510352&page=10

Can something be done about it? It's a bit annoying, even though it doesn't happen all the time.

On Fri, Dec 21, 2007 at 07:27:49AM -0000, Uphaar Agrawalla wrote:
> It appears this bug is affecting almost everyone using Acer Aspire 4520.
> The following thread has a number of users reporting the freeze-during-boot issue:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510352&page=10
>
> Can something be done about it? It's a bit annoying, even though it
> doesn't happen all the time.

The summary on this bug indicates that it is a problem with upgrading to
Ubuntu 6.10 (edgy), which is nearing the end of its maintenance lifetime and
has been long superseded by more current Ubuntu releases.

If you have a different problem, please open a separate bug to track it. If
the summary of this bug is incorrect, please update it. If you aren't sure
how to determine whether your problem is the same, please refer to
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs and ask for help if
necessary.

--
 - mdz

I have updated the summary to reflect the current state - as already mentioned in the comments the problem is present in the Gutsy release as well.
Also in my case it is a fresh install (starting from Gutsy RC), so I removed the "upgrade" part from the summary.

Please let me know what other information I can provide.

Some additional information after reading a few threads in forums:

The issue seems to be with various Acer Aspire models.

Also, some mention in a thread that disabling acpi during boot fixes the problem (acpi=0). However, that is not a feasible option for laptops.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3899110#post3899110

Perhaps the problem is with Acer acpi?

I got past failed boot on a fresh Gutsy install by adding all_generic_ide to the kernel boot line in menu.lst. This is on an Acer Aspire 5520. The IDE controllers are nvidia, seen as 'nVidia Corporation Unknown device 0560' and '0550' in lspci. This is with newest Gutsy kernel (2.6.22-14-generic). Solution found at http://www.ubuntu-forum.net/showthread.php?p=4016931

I'll still have this machine in my hands for another day or two if any additional information could help. Thanks all!

Got this problem on an AMD K7 desktop machine instead of an Acer laptop. Occasionally drops into the initramfs prompt on boot, sometimes only once in a few weeks, sometimes several times a day.

More information: people have reported it works if "all_generic_ide" is added to the grub boot parameters. This, however, reduces the hard disk performance significantly.
Hope that can help troubleshoot.

try http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4394099&postcount=131 and see if it works

I've not had this problem since upgrading to Hardy Beta. Can others also confirm? Since Hardy RC is out now it shouldn't be risky to upgrade...

Just FYI, this bug exists in Hardy for Acer Aspire 4730z, but it doesn't appear in HP (and HP's Compaq brand) laptops.

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

when my newly installed linux mint refused to boot most times and dropped to initramfs-shell i tried every solution i found, like rebuilding initramfs, etc.
but nothing worked.

now i found the solution for me:
i changed back the kernel parameters in grub's menu.lst.
i think, i switched the root= parameter from UUID=x to /dev/sda1 some time ago (stupid suggestion found in a wiki)
and it had not caused any errors until the kernel wouldn't find the root device anymore.
setting the root device back to an "UUID=x" entry in the default kernel options in /boot/grub/menu.lst and "sudo update-grub" made my pc booting flawless again!
(to get the UUID of your device us "sudo blkid")

just if this same thing happend to anyone out there..

This appears to be an old collection of different problems that are probably long since gone, so I am closing this bug. If you are still having an issue, please file a new report and we'll try to diagnose it.