Gave up waiting for root device

[richpri]

I am running Ubuntu 10.10.
After the most recent major upgrade I started getting the above message when booting with the default kernel, Linux 2.6.35.30 Generic. But if I drop back to Linux 2.6.35.28 Generic then everything works fine. I have plenty of free memory and none of the previous posts seem to apply to this problem. I downloaded and ran the boot info script and here are the results:


Boot Info Script 0.60 from 17 May 2011


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Grub2 (v1.97-1.98) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector
1 of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and
looks in partition 1 for (,msdos1)/boot/grub.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.10
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 964,485,119 964,483,072 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 964,487,166 976,771,071 12,283,906 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 964,487,168 976,771,071 12,283,904 82 Linux swap / Solaris


"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be ext4
/dev/sda5 d2c50438-4460-4fd5-bae9-e4f6024ed96b swap

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sda1 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)


=========================== sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}

function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
load_video
insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-30-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-30-generic root=UUID=4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-30-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-30-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-30-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-30-generic root=UUID=4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-30-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-28-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-28-generic root=UUID=4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-28-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-28-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-28-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-28-generic root=UUID=4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-28-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-22-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
if [ "x${timeout}" != "x-1" ]; then
if keystatus; then
if keystatus --shift; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=0
fi
else
if sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
set timeout=0
fi
fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sda1/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=4fa55ddc-b676-478b-a5ef-d144c3f467be / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=d2c50438-4460-4fd5-bae9-e4f6024ed96b none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

324.134307861 = 348.036562944 boot/grub/core.img 1
48.321392059 = 51.884699648 boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
1.165039062 = 1.250951168 boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic 2
1.211914062 = 1.301282816 boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-28-generic 2
0.652622223 = 0.700747776 boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-30-generic 2
324.138305664 = 348.040855552 boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic 1
324.132854462 = 348.035002368 boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-28-generic 1
324.148685455 = 348.052000768 boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-30-generic 1
0.652622223 = 0.700747776 initrd.img 2
1.211914062 = 1.301282816 initrd.img.old 2
324.148685455 = 348.052000768 vmlinuz 1
324.132854462 = 348.035002368 vmlinuz.old 1

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sda2

00000000 d1 02 d3 e9 60 fa ce 72 eb ce b2 91 e9 eb da bd |....`..r........|
00000010 75 d5 ce aa 7a 67 b5 73 6f 03 5b 07 e0 0e 0d be |u...zg.so.[.....|
00000020 bb 8a f3 9a bd bb ea bd bb da 0f 37 ba 3e 7a d0 |...........7.>z.|
00000030 fd c9 83 ae 8f ef f7 7c f2 a0 f3 e9 3d d5 ee aa |.......|....=...|
00000040 8a a1 7f 09 1b ab b8 ba bb c2 94 fb ce 0a 9c 01 |................|
00000050 b0 1e 7b 1c 5f bf 33 5a 56 53 2d 92 94 94 56 cb |..{._.3ZVS-...V.|
00000060 c4 15 65 79 42 08 f0 42 e0 59 5a 5e 06 a2 57 19 |..eyB..B.YZ^..W.|
00000070 03 b0 b1 87 80 c4 49 a1 b8 38 5f 58 08 79 2e 2c |......I..8_X.y.,|
00000080 06 c7 85 10 e9 85 22 62 ba 48 6c 8c c4 2e 95 96 |......"b.Hl.....|
00000090 56 ca 2a eb ea 6b 49 21 d6 d6 d7 97 57 54 48 e0 |V.*..kI!....WTH.|
000000a0 0f 48 a5 92 f2 f2 ea da 5a 40 68 58 af ff cb 5f |.H......Z@hX..._|
000000b0 ff f2 e5 97 5f fe eb 7f fe f5 bb 6d e9 07 99 5e |...._......m...^|
000000c0 22 2a 34 cd 92 9b aa a7 51 10 35 c9 73 d3 5a 75 |"*4.....Q.5.s.Zu|
000000d0 92 8d 34 8d 8e 97 69 1a 17 d4 a0 e8 77 3c 73 8a |..4...i.....w<s.|
000000e0 75 a7 17 09 f6 8b c6 97 29 06 1e 67 0a 0b 0b dd |u.......)..g....|
000000f0 dd dd 29 d8 0c ec a3 c9 68 2a e0 82 33 c0 1f 18 |..).....h*..3...|
00000100 8d 3d e5 86 05 f4 29 da cd 84 5a 22 3b 8e c9 2b |.=....)...Z";..+|
00000110 20 51 4c b9 6b 28 d9 2c 2e 42 91 f3 d8 fb b2 27 | QL.k(.,.B.....'|
00000120 1f 06 f6 6d 6d 6d 41 a4 bf 78 f1 e2 27 93 d1 5f |...mmmA..x..'.._|
00000130 bc f8 e2 8b 2f f0 53 c1 cd 50 e5 35 1a ba a7 8a |..../.S..P.5....|
00000140 a8 94 c4 95 d2 ce 40 a4 e3 b2 60 b4 49 d1 53 f5 |......@...`.I.S.|
00000150 16 52 f4 07 83 ed 69 01 1d 4d 0a e0 2b 50 84 00 |.R....i..M..+P..|
00000160 dc 0c f8 03 94 6d c6 d3 d3 93 8a aa e3 f6 00 f4 |.....m..........|
00000170 98 98 98 93 27 4f e2 d1 e1 36 40 5e 00 9d 44 3a |....'O...6@^..D:|
00000180 9d 31 39 4e a6 c2 f4 34 08 0f 33 99 dc 30 bc ed |.19N...4..3..0..|
00000190 ea ea 02 d3 e7 e6 e6 0c 06 03 c8 8e eb 98 46 4b |..............FK|
000001a0 28 c3 00 2e a8 52 b4 1c 64 3a 5f 51 1d d1 77 3d |(....R..d:_Q..w=|
000001b0 52 d7 c8 1f 68 12 0c 35 1b bb 77 45 9c 5e 00 fe |R...h..5..wE.^..|
000001c0 ff ff 82 fe ff ff 02 00 00 00 00 70 bb 00 00 00 |...........p....|
000001d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200


========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdb sdc



The boot stanzas for /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-30-generic and /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-28-generic seem to be the same [except for file names].

I would appreciate any help or advice that anyone could offer.

[dino99]

check that dkms is installed, then reinstall that kernel

[richpri]

Installed dkms and then reinstalled linux-generic.
Problem is unchanged.:sad:

[richpri]

Have also tried changing root=UUID=. . . line in grub to root=/dev/sda1 with no success. Previous kernel still works fine. Please help.

[drs305]

The next time you boot, enter BIOS and see what the reported drive size is. If it's 137GB you could have a BIOS limitation that is keeping the system from seeing all the files necessary to boot.

You could also check from the Grub menu. Go to the grub prompt by pressing "c". Next type:

ls (hd0,1)/
Does it see "initrd.img" but not "vmlinuz" ?

If it sees both, you could try to manually update the initrd image and core.img files with:

sudo update-initramfs -c -k 2.6.35-30-generic
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub

[richpri]

From grub I can see "initrd.img" and "vmlinuz".

I did the initrd update specified above but it had no visible effect. :frown:

[richpri]

Update applied last Friday fixed problem. I have no idea why.:popcorn:

[d.workman]

Running Ubuntu 10.04
I had this error & went to grub (pressed "c" at startup) then used
parttool (hd0,1) boot+ to activate the partition. this corrected the problem.