9.04 "Gave up waiting for boot device" and more

[ewil]

Updated 8.10 -> 9.04, and no big problems were apparent, only that the Finnish server was lacking some packages. Then came the reboot.

It says "Gave up waiting for root device." and after getting the command line working through some recovery mode, I did sudo apt-get update & upgrade and followed these instructions: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/810#Boot%20failures%20on%20systems%20with%20Intel% 20D945%20motherboards

rootdelay=90 is on. There's more delay when starting, but still it brings the same screen.

Then there's this: "ALERT! dev/disk/by-uuid/a005c4b4-10cd... does not exist."
Let's check this out:



ls -i 7dev/disk/by-uuid


The same a005c4b4-10cd... that was reported missing is there! This was also found at /etc/fstab.

What's the problem here?

I have Ubuntu 8.04 alternate install DVD. Is there any way to revert back to 8.04 without losing my photos, videos, music...?

At the moment I'm using my old PC, that has Ubuntu 8.04.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[shayanlinux]

Hi,

I upgraded from Intrepid Ibex 8.10 to Jaunty Jackalope 9.04; having the same problem.
I tried waiting for a longer time for the device to become ready by adding rootdelay=90. But the device is still missing.

There is not any hard disk device under /dev
which means I don't get anything by running the following commands in the ash:
ls /dev/hd*
ls /dev/sd* (my HDD should be here because it's a SATA device)
ls /dev/disk
dmesg |grep -i ata

All of the above mentioned commands produce nothing for me.

Any help would be appreciated a lot. Please let me know if you need more info.

Cheers

[pablomolnar]

I have the same problem... after Synaptic finished the installation it said that I have to restart the system. Now it always throws me to the busybox shell at boot time.

Error:

Boot from (hd0, 4) ext3 c6e7b788-a0bd-4f20-ace2-b6c128e8dc4e
Starting up ...
Loading, please wait...
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
- Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
- Check root= (did the syste, wait for the right device?)
- Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/c6e7b788-a0bd-4f20-ace2-b6c128e8dc4e does not exist. Dr
opping to a shell!


BusyBox v1.10.2 (Ubuntu 1:1.10.2-1ubuntu6) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs)
My system spec:
kernel linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic
Motherboard: MSI P965 Neo
HD: Sata

I have tested several kernel arguments and in different order without success like:
all_generic_ide floppy=off irqpoll nolapic acpi=off pci=nomsi rootdelay=120

My Ubuntu 8.10 was working perfectly until I have upgraded to 9.04

Hoping to someone can help me.

Pablo

[mrctrsclr]

I have the same problem... after Synaptic finished the installation it said that I have to restart the system. Now it always throws me to the busybox shell at boot time.

Error:

Boot from (hd0, 4) ext3 c6e7b788-a0bd-4f20-ace2-b6c128e8dc4e
Starting up ...
Loading, please wait...
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
- Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
- Check root= (did the syste, wait for the right device?)
- Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/c6e7b788-a0bd-4f20-ace2-b6c128e8dc4e does not exist. Dr
opping to a shell!


BusyBox v1.10.2 (Ubuntu 1:1.10.2-1ubuntu6) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs)
My system spec:
kernel linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic
Motherboard: MSI P965 Neo
HD: Sata

I have tested several kernel arguments and in different order without success like:
all_generic_ide floppy=off irqpoll nolapic acpi=off pci=nomsi rootdelay=120

My Ubuntu 8.10 was working perfectly until I have upgraded to 9.04

Hoping to someone can help me.

Pablo

I'm getting the same problem, but when I restart my laptop all is well.

Sometimes busybox will show, sometimes it won't...

[pablomolnar]

I finally resolved the conflict.
Basically I follow the instructions of this post (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7067298#post7067298).
Then Ubuntu detects my root device but there was no connection because the drivers of my network card wasn't installed. So I use these commands to solve the problem:

--Install driver
modprobe r8196

-- Add the interface in /etc/network/interfaces
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
-- Restart network
/etc/init.d/networking restart

Now that we have connectivity fix the upgrade to 9.04:

apt-get --fix-missing
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade

Then reboot and tha's all =P

[bsmith1051]

I finally resolved the conflict.
Basically I follow the instructions of this post (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7067298#post7067298)
So your primary fix was to rollback the kernel version? Did you go back to the new kernel after the upgrade was finally finished?

[PauliJ]

Hello
I had the same symptoms after upgrading from 8.10 to 9.04 as describer in the 9.04 release notes:
"This may cause the system to drop to a busybox initramfs shell on boot with a "Gave up waiting for root device." error."

I have a dual boot machine - no intel motherboard.

I was completely stuck first. None of below helped:
"Wait a minute or two and then exit the initramfs shell by typing 'exit'. Booting should proceed normally. If it doesn't, wait a bit longer and try again." I.e. neither delay nor exit had any impact - did not start.

I started the system in debugging mode with a command terminal option using and older kernel 2.6.27.4. I selected the terminal option with internet access in the debug mode and completed the upgrade manually as a safety measure according to Ubuntu instructions for manual upgrade:


sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude -f install
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

After that I started the system with 2.6.27.4 - still it did not start with 2.6.28.11.
I did following:

1. $ sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst (I added the 2.6.28.11 kernel there into list)
2. $ sudo apt-get install grub-splashimages (loaded the startupimage package)
3. $ sudo ln -s /boot/grub/splashimages/my_image.xpm.gz /boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
4. $ sudo update-grub
Reference:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto
After that I booted the system and it started smoothly with 2.6.28.11 kernel option.

After that I went back to

$ sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst and removed some old kernel options and moved
2.6.28.11 kernel option on top of the list.

and run $ sudo update-grub

Next restart did not work with 2.6.28.11 any longer!

Then I reverted back to the longer list of kernel options that I had spared (/boot/grub/menu.lst).

and run $ sudo update-grub.

Ever since system is starting beautifully with 2.6.28.11 and I'm quite satisfied after one day of fighting - no data lost - upgrade successfull.
(And to repeat: I don't have any delays defined eg. rootdelay=90 in /boot/grub/menu.lst in my case it did not impact anything neither the exit command)

I'm not sure what was the root cause. Generally I found ubuntu web site, eg. grubhowto very useful. I'm not an expert in ubuntu.

[pablomolnar]

So your primary fix was to rollback the kernel version? Did you go back to the new kernel after the upgrade was finally finished?

My primary fix was a manual install of the 2.6.28.11 kernel at /var/cache/apt/archives/

[PauliJ]

[quote=PauliJ;7169990]



$ sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst and removed some old kernel options and moved
2.6.28.11 kernel option on top of the list.

and run $ sudo update-grub

The
Next restart did not work with 2.6.28.11 any longer!
The above problem was just because I had a copy paste error on the kernel line:
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=76dba5e2-eeca-4e89-84$

instead of the correct one:
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=76dba5e2-4e89-84bc-1c993281f56c ro quiet splash

Anyhow not surprisingly this kind of error in the /boot/grub/menu.lst was an easy way to regenerate the symptom:
" system to drop to a busybox initramfs shell on boot with a "Gave up waiting for root device." error."

Anyway the steps of manually ensuring the upgrade in debugging shell and ensuring correct /boot/grub/menu.lst helped me to get going with 8.10-9.04 upgrade.

[bwana]

Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom has been using Ubuntu 8.10 and just tried to upgrade to 9.04
She is now experiencing this problem (basically, now her computer has been converted into a doorstop as a consequence of this).
My mom does not know the difference between a folder and a file, but has been happily using Ubuntu for 6 months.

I am not located in the same country
as as her, which means I will need to fix this *somehow* over the phone/Internet.

There is just no way that I could talk her through editing a file using vi.. is this the end of her happy days as an Ubuntu user ?
.. or does anyone have any helpful tips that could get her back up and running without losing her pictures, music etc. ?

The only *possibility* I can see is that she uses the Ubuntu (8.04) install cd to re-install .. but can she do this _AND_ keep her pictures / music etc. ?

Any tips / advice that could help my mom continue using Ubuntu would be extremely appreciated by both me and my mom.