Comment 25 for bug 428318

sorry, instead of /etc/fstab, i edited /boot/grub/menu.list,

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
 ## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
 ## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
 ## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
-# kopt=root=UUID=0f9ee8ea-922f-47a4-80da-a50c95a98e5c ro
+# kopt=root=/dev/sda1 ro

 ## default grub root device
 ## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)

- and ran update-grub

this workaround got this system booting again