initramfs error after updating Ubuntu; not RAM

Question

I updated Ubuntu, and upon reboot I got this error screen:

Things I've tried so far:

Boot Repair from Ubuntu Live on USB; no change; booting into various recovery modes doesn't help, either.
Memtest for about 90 minutes, revealed no errors.
Replacing RAM entirely; still no difference.

I'm not afraid of the command line, but I don't have an advanced understanding of Ubuntu.

df command:

    Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             4038808       0   4038808   0% /dev
tmpfs             812256    1548    810708   1% /run
/dev/sdc1        7970032 1949540   6020492  25% /cdrom
/dev/loop0       1860480 1860480         0 100% /rofs
/cow             4061264  407568   3653696  11% /
tmpfs            4061264   46844   4014420   2% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120       8      5112   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            4061264       0   4061264   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            4061264       0   4061264   0% /tmp
tmpfs             812252      52    812200   1% /run/user/999
/dev/loop1         93184   93184         0 100% /snap/core/6350
/dev/loop2         35456   35456         0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/818
/dev/loop3        144128  144128         0 100% /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/74
/dev/loop4          2304    2304         0 100% /snap/gnome-calculator/260
/dev/loop5         13312   13312         0 100% /snap/gnome-characters/139
/dev/loop6         14976   14976         0 100% /snap/gnome-logs/45
/dev/loop7          3840    3840         0 100% /snap/gnome-system-monitor/57
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

fdisk-l:

Disk /dev/loop0: 1.8 GiB, 1905045504 bytes, 3720792 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop1: 91 MiB, 95408128 bytes, 186344 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop2: 34.6 MiB, 36216832 bytes, 70736 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop3: 140.7 MiB, 147496960 bytes, 288080 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop4: 2.3 MiB, 2355200 bytes, 4600 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop5: 13 MiB, 13619200 bytes, 26600 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop6: 14.5 MiB, 15208448 bytes, 29704 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop7: 3.7 MiB, 3878912 bytes, 7576 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/sda: 3.7 TiB, 4000787030016 bytes, 7814037168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: E69014CA-EC9D-4A42-A6E0-403744998B9B

Device     Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1   2048       4095       2048    1M BIOS boot
/dev/sda2   4096 7814035455 7814031360  3.7T Linux filesystem




Disk /dev/sdb: 4.6 TiB, 5000981073920 bytes, 1220942645 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 268431360 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xa04a0c61

Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1         256 1220942591 1220942336  4.6T  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT


Disk /dev/sdc: 7.6 GiB, 8179140608 bytes, 15974884 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00433060

Device     Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1  *     2048 15974883 15972836  7.6G  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

lsblk:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0   1.8G  1 loop /rofs
loop1    7:1    0    91M  1 loop /snap/core/6350
loop2    7:2    0  34.6M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/818
loop3    7:3    0 140.7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/74
loop4    7:4    0   2.3M  1 loop /snap/gnome-calculator/260
loop5    7:5    0    13M  1 loop /snap/gnome-characters/139
loop6    7:6    0  14.5M  1 loop /snap/gnome-logs/45
loop7    7:7    0   3.7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-system-monitor/57
sda      8:0    0   3.7T  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0     1M  0 part 
└─sda2   8:2    0   3.7T  0 part 
sdb      8:16   0   4.6T  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   0   4.6T  0 part 
sdc      8:32   1   7.6G  0 disk 
└─sdc1   8:33   1   7.6G  0 part /cdrom
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

Thanks for all of the hard work to get that info. The reason that the earlier ls -al /dev/sda2/boot failed, is that the Ubuntu partition was not mounted. When booted to the Ubuntu Live USB, can you bring up the Files app (Navigator) and see if you find your Ubuntu partition sda2 listed in the left pane, if so, click it to mount it, then you can retry the ls command. — heynnema, Jun 02 '19 at 18:54
@heynnema, thanks for all your help in chat; the BIOS update didn't wind up helping, unfortunately. — JeanSibelius, Jun 02 '19 at 20:05
@starkus, you'll see a comment in that thread about things there not working as well... it's in the second answer, as I can't boot into any older versions so have to mount everything in terminal. — JeanSibelius, Jun 02 '19 at 20:05
You did that quick! So, backup and reinstall Ubuntu... uncheck the format box and it should leave your /home as it is. And later, just to clean up, you can delete the /boot/initrd files for the NON-GENERIC filenames (leave the generic files for -48 and -50). — heynnema, Jun 02 '19 at 20:09
@heynnema, thank you, about to try that. If there's a more detailed walkthrough for what you're describing I'll seek it out first. — JeanSibelius, Jun 02 '19 at 20:35
Don't worry about the extra initrd files now... that cleanup is just for a later time. Go ahead with your backup and reinstall (format box unchecked). — heynnema, Jun 02 '19 at 20:39
@heynnema, I'm going to reinstall, but crossing my i's and dotting my t's with the most valuable information on it (my Plex media and database), so will be pecking away at the best practices for backing that information up and reinstalling it over the next couple of evenings. — JeanSibelius, Jun 03 '19 at 17:28
@heynnema, after reinstall now getting that old favourite, the "invalid ARCH-independent elf magic" error... — JeanSibelius, Jun 04 '19 at 10:29
@JeanSibelius in Googling the error message, the problem is with GRUB. Either run boot-repair, or check https://askubuntu.com/questions/72003/how-do-i-resolve-a-grub-invalid-arch-independent-elf-magic-error — heynnema, Jun 04 '19 at 13:16
@JeanSibelius Is your BIOS set to UEFI mode? If not, that may explain your problem. You may have to flip it to UEFI, and (possibly) wipe the disk, and reinstall Ubuntu. — heynnema, Jun 04 '19 at 13:22
@heynnema, all good; a "normal" boot-repair worked. Thank you for all your help! — JeanSibelius, Jun 04 '19 at 23:33
@JeanSibelius Glad you got it going! As you mention, you've seen that error message before. It probably comes from your BIOS being set to BIOS mode, instead of UEFI mode, and your disk is (correctly) set to GPT. The GRUB installer got confused during your install, and it installed the wrong version of GRUB. If you don't check/change your BIOS, you'll see that error again some time. If you DO change your BIOS setting, you'll probably have to wipe the disk and reinstall, 'cause it will need a special EFI partition then. — heynnema, Jun 04 '19 at 23:37
Possible duplicate of Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) — Elder Geek, Jun 06 '19 at 23:17

heynnema · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-04T23:56:06.750

Since you can't boot into Recovery Mode, to fsck your file system...

boot to a Ubuntu Live DVD/USB
open a terminal window
type sudo fdisk -l
identify the /dev/XXXX device name for your "Linux Filesystem"
type sudo fsck -f /dev/XXXX # replacing XXXX with the number you found earlier
repeat the fsck command if there were errors
type reboot

Update #1:

fsck on /dev/sda2 was fine
the computer has both -48 and -50 kernels, and it won't boot from either
we updated the initrd.img file for -50, no help
the initrd.img for the -48 kernel is from May 18th, so it should boot
- -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 38477701 May 18 10:37 initrd.img-4.15.0-48-generic
two choices:
- update the BIOS from A05 from 2011, to A20 from 2017
- backup important Ubuntu files and reinstall Ubuntu

Update #2:

the BIOS update to A20 did not fix the problem

Update #3:

Ubuntu was reinstalled
However it installed the incorrect version of GRUB, and it wouldn't boot
boot-repair solved the problem by installing the correct version of GRUB
user should check BIOS settings are UEFI, and then wipe the disk, and reinstall Ubuntu

initramfs error after updating Ubuntu; not RAM

1 Answers1

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