dropping to BusyBox shell

[Solrac924]

ok, first off, i'm a newbie to Linux...period. i've heard great things about Ubuntu, & i'm awed at Compiz Fusion (thanks to youTube). so i recently got a new PC (old one fried) & was waiting for Hardy Heron to be released. After 22 hours of downloading i finally got it.
after a so-called "successful" install, i re-booted, saw GRUB, chose Ubuntu, & after 3 minutes, got nothing but a command line. i've re-booted, re-installed, & am aggravated.
i keep getting: "check_root = bootarg cat /proc/cmdline
or missing modules, devices: cat /proc/module/ ls /dev
ALERT /dev/disk/by-uuid/ceddc280... does not exist Dropping to shell"
i've read many forums & have learned a little since. nufortunely, i gaven't progressed at all. when i enter "cat /proc/cmdline" i see the same UUID string.
i've tried editing the line in GRUB putting "irqpoll" at the end with no luck. i've also tried "all_generic_ide" & have gotten no further. i tried "sudo update-initramfs -k 2.6.24-16-386 -c" in BusyBox but doesn't work, & can't update it in Terminal while using Live CD.
my menu.lst looks like:
title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=ceddc280-a12f-4a5d-b14e-a8178bdb6bfd ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet

as for my setup, i've got an AMD64 X2 & am using a IDE hd (for Ubuntu) & SCSI hd (for Windows).
please help.

[mick8985]

Hmm, tricky one, looks like the kernel loads OK, but it cannot mount your hard drive. Your definately on the right track passing parameters to the kernel through grub. Try passing ide=nodma

[Rocket2DMn]

Try editing your boot line to

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=ceddc280-a12f-4a5d-b14e-a8178bdb6bfd ro splash acpi=off noapic

(removed quiet and added acpi=off and noapic).
If you find this works, you can edit menu.lst after installing to do it automatically and have it save that as the default (in case updates overwrite menu.lst)

Once you have the system installed:

gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

then make the entry

title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=ceddc280-a12f-4a5d-b14e-a8178bdb6bfd ro splash acpi=off noapic
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet
savedefault

[anewguy]

There are other recent posts on the forum about this problem also. They seem to center around a certain controller on the motherboard and either switching a setting to "raid" (even with just 1 drive) or moving a cable. I'd search the forum, see if these make sense, and if not, come back and we'll see if we can help.

[Rocket2DMn]

My theory is that it may have to do with JMicron support.

[Solrac924]

alright, thanks guys for the advice! hopefully i can get this resolved today.

[Solrac924]

ok, still nothing.
i'd hate to make this an all day project, but i'd like to see this running ASAP.
to mick8985 & Rocket2DMn, i give you thanks for trying.
the "ide=nodma" trick got me nowhere, as well as the "acpi=off noapic". isn't that for ACPI read timeouts?
to anewguy, i've read several posts in the last 24 hours. did you have a solution to contribute?
is there anything else i can try? anyone?!

[Rocket2DMn]

If it's not even getting to loading the system (the errors appear after GRUB), you may want to try reinstalling GRUB using the Super GRUB Disk. It's possible the UUID on the drive changed when you modified it with the install, so GRUB may be looking in the wrong place for the drive.
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/
It's a nice little disc to have, it can be a little strange, but I think you can muddle your way through it and try a few different options. The best option would be to just reinstall GRUB with it for the dual boot system and have it autodetect the installs.