Grub : Gave up waiting on root device

[b1lancer]

ok. i tried different sda's just in case. Here are the results:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9a0d38ea

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63    14683409     7341673+  12  Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2   *    14684160   165851723    75583782    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3       165855060   312576704    73360822+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5       165855123   306616589    70380733+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6       306616653   312576704     2980026   82  Linux swap / Solaris
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid -p /dev/sda5
/dev/sda5: ambivalent result (probably more filesystems on the device)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid -p /dev/sda1
/dev/sda1: UUID="0AA4895EA4894D5F" LABEL="PQSERVICE" TYPE="ntfs" USAGE="filesystem" 
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid -p /dev/sda2
/dev/sda2: UUID="B480923A80920352" LABEL="ACER" TYPE="ntfs" USAGE="filesystem" 
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid -p /dev/sda3
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid -p /dev/sda4
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo hexdump  -s 0x410 -n 2 /dev/sda5
0000410 2468                                   
0000412
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sda5 /mnt
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /mnt
bin    dev   initrd.img      lost+found  opt   sbin     sys  var
boot   etc   initrd.img.old  media       proc  selinux  tmp  vmlinuz
cdrom  home  lib             mnt         root  srv      usr  vmlinuz.old

[meierfra.]

You have been hit by this bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/518582

Luckily the fix is very easy: You just need to create a file on /dev/sda5
If you rebooted the LiveCD since your last post do

sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sda5 /mnt

In any case

sudo touch /mnt/empty_file

Your problem should be fixed.
Just to confirm wait a few seconds and then run

sudo blkid -p /dev/sda5

If you still get the "ambivalent result" error message wait a little longer and run "sudo blkid -p /dev/sda5" again.

[b1lancer]

My Ubuntu had a bug!!

Any way, I did what you suggested. Unfortunately I waited quite a while and I'm still getting an ambivalent result.

[meierfra.]

Hang on

[meierfra.]

Did you noticed that I had added a missing sudo:

sudo touch /mnt/empty_file

If you used "sudo" just reboot and see whether you can get into Ubuntu.
Otherwise try again with "sudo"

[meierfra.]

Just to make sure: post

 sudo hexdump  -s 0x410 -n 2 /dev/sda5

again.

[b1lancer]

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$  sudo hexdump  -s 0x410 -n 2 /dev/sda5
0000410 2467                                   
0000412

[b1lancer]

I did notice the sudo was missing because it told me permission denied. I'm trying those again.

[meierfra.]

Looks good. Just reboot and see whether you can get into Ubuntu.

[b1lancer]

Here's what I got this time:

sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sda5 /mnt
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo touch /mnt/empty_file
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid -p /dev/sda5
/dev/sda5: UUID="821ba69f-67a2-4e83-93ea-058d4124ff5c" VERSION="1.0" TYPE="ext4" USAGE="filesystem"