Gave up waiting for root device on Ubuntu

Question

I've just installed Ubuntu 12.10 to dual boot with Windows 8, but every time I choose Ubuntu from grub menu, it always get stuck at this error and won't boot:

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 system wait for the right device?)
 - Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/920903aa-762f-40d2-8126-87f4b0e6f975 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

BusyBox v1.19.3 (Ubuntu 1:1.10.3-7ubuntu1.1) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a lost of built-in commands.
(initramfs)

I tried with boot-repair, but it doesn't help, here is the log generated it.

Not going to "waste" an answer just as if trying hard fishing for rep points. The following +50 answer may already get some of you guys you out of your misery: http://askubuntu.com/questions/361886/cannot-find-root-device-after-latest-kernel-upgrade/363345 For those with "exotic" hardware, note the 6th pitfall, which I've just added recently to Braiam's great post. (i e. either missing linux-image-extra, or it got "destroyed" when upgrading kernel) — syntaxerror, Feb 10 '16 at 02:29
@syntaxerror That's what helped me. Thanks! For some reason, my issue with my system failing to find the NVMe root device, but only when VMD controller was enabled; but a different issue if it was disable. — Chef Pharaoh, Sep 18 '23 at 22:55

score 58 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 11 '19 at 07:52

58

I had the very same problem. Thing is that I had the laptop off for long time and when I switched it on it showed the same message. Apparently some configurations changed (most likely to a default setting) with the machine off for long time.

I solved it following this link here on Stack Exchange:

"initramfs" error on boot ONLY on Dell XPS 13 (boots fine on other computer)

Solution is:

Reboot.
Press F12 and go to the BIOS settings.
System Configurations → SATA Operations
Change RAID to AHCI

edited Jul 11 '19 at 07:52

Eliah Kagan

117,780

answered Jul 10 '19 at 20:45

Luca Chirolli

681

5

Worked on my Dell XPS15 9560. Thank you! – SMir Sep 20 '19 at 05:00
THANK YOU! You just saved me :) – Daniel Jan 02 '20 at 21:07
A recent bios update changed this option and I was freaking out until I tried this. Thanks sooo much! – addison Jan 30 '20 at 21:12
1

My only problem is then that windows will now not boot – Josh Feb 29 '20 at 07:41
Totally solved it for me after a BIOS update caused all of my settings to be lost. Thanks! – junkystu Jan 27 '21 at 07:03
Perfect!!! its works – user3546879 Jun 09 '21 at 19:32
3

Worked on a Dell XPS 13 7390, running Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS. Apparently it switched to RAID upon very low power, by itself (well there was a yellow, Support Assist warning screen I had to click "Continue" through, but still). Running Ubuntu from a flash drive on the machine didn't even show any other drives on it so I was really worried but this fixed everything perfectly. – zulu Sep 28 '21 at 11:27
1

Worked on XPS 9560 as well, after leaving it off for a long time it didn't boot and this was the reason. Thanks! – Daniele Grattarola Jan 28 '22 at 13:58
Works for me again! – fanbondi May 29 '22 at 13:50
1

Also works for XPS 15 9550, also left it off for a long time. Thank you! – fractals Jun 01 '22 at 01:58
Life saver answer. THANKS! – Luca Steeb Aug 01 '22 at 20:47
Worked on my Dell XPS 15 9570 running Ubuntu 20.04.05. Thank you! – gregpaton08 Mar 03 '23 at 16:41
@LucaSteeb, I have the same issue; please help. https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?p=6441354#post6441354 – REDHWAN Jul 11 '23 at 07:51
If i switch to AHCI my windows gives me a blue screen. Any ideas? – Enrico Sep 21 '23 at 14:42

Lemmings19 · Answer 2 · 2013-08-15T16:40:57.290

3

If you installed Ubuntu Desktop onto a partition/hard drive which is part of a RAID array, or an encrypted disk, or on Windows ME, it will likely fail to boot. Installing Ubuntu Desktop onto one of these sources is not supported.

If you have installed Ubuntu Desktop to one of the above sources, and it won't boot:

Uninstall Ubuntu.
Install Ubuntu to a hard drive or partition which is not part of a RAID array, not encrypted, and not on Windows ME, and it should boot up just fine.

edited Aug 15 '13 at 16:40

answered May 02 '13 at 19:50

Lemmings19

133

Why do you assume this is Wubi on RAID? – Oli Aug 29 '13 at 14:53
hes probably not assuming, just telling you not to. – Lorenzo Von Matterhorn Sep 20 '13 at 17:48
2

That link doesn't say you can't use RAID ... It says you can't use software RAID! Hardware RAID is absolutely supported. – machineghost Nov 27 '22 at 21:56

user3441273 · Answer 3 · 2015-04-28T13:47:05.753

I also occurred same problem but I can solve it using following link

http://blog.wittchen.biz.pl/ubuntu-system-boot-problem/

Attempt #1

First, I tried to change rootdelay as error message said. I opened file /etc/default/grub I found there the following line: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" and changed it to: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="rootdelay=90 quiet splash" rootdelay became longer, but unfortunately it didn’t fix the problem in my case.

Attempt #2

I edited /etc/fstab file. I executed the following command in terminal: sudo gedit /etc/fstab and edited fstab file in gedit. In the beginning my file looked like that:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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>
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=96889309-5f73-4688-8354-e64cd1bb158f /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=480cc3f7-a39d-4d0f-93d5-49fc8df1a392 none            swap    sw              0       0

Then, I commented one line and added another one describing /dev/sda1 disk device. Now, my file looks as follows:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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>
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=/dev/sda1  /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# UUID=96889309-5f73-4688-8354-e64cd1bb158f /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=480cc3f7-a39d-4d0f-93d5-49fc8df1a392 none            swap    sw              0       0

Problem still existed, so I tried another attempt to solve it.

Attempt #3

I opened terminal and typed the following command:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

and then I typed another command to update grub:

sudo update-grub

After all of this, I rebooted computer and finally, error disappeared and problem was fixed!

How were you able to open the terminal :| – Enrico Sep 21 '23 at 14:45 — Enrico, Sep 21 '23 at 14:45

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 03 '19 at 10:26

I have got same issue while i'm doing patched for entire system which includes kernel. unfortunately package broken which leads kernel was partially upgrade and corrected.

I was scared about issue since where mail server was hosted and data also reside in the same machine.

I google it. tried all possible concepts as below.

1. Booting with live cd
2. doing fsck for / partition and /boot
3. grub-install on /dev/sda(which is default root filesystem)
4. check fstab

And following solve make happy to get boot server.

--> note in my case boot is mounted on /boot which is /dev/sda3 where as /dev/sda1
/ file system.

Simple solution to fix the issue(but to cross all module which are install on kernel level

copy /boot of other server complete /boot excluding grub.cfg to external flash disk
boot with live cd
find out root file system with following command fdisk -l /dev/sda
mount / file system on /mnt mount /dev/sdXY /mnt
mkdir directory to mount external data mkdir -p /mnt/pd
mount flash disk data to /mnt/pd
now it is time to do chages on root file system with chroot command(Please care while doing chages)
chroot /mnt
now copy of entire /mnt/pd/boot/ to /mnt
exit
now unmout /mnt/pd
create new folder mkdir -p /mnt/test
mount /boot on /mnt/test

mount /dev/sdXY /mnt/test
now /boot is mounted on /mnt/test/
again do chroot /mnt
rename all file which contains /mnt/test/
now copy /mnt/boot (which we have copied from pd) to /mnt/test/
make sure your using original grub.cfg /mnt/test/boot/grub/grub.cfg
exit
reboot
you will be successfully boot to the server without any issues.

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 15 '19 at 16:59

After much effort I finally made it:

I booted live from usb to fix the problem where i found that update-grub failed with an error "couldnt find canonical path in cow..."

I then tried alot until I found this:

https://askubuntu.com/a/772892/925082

where I followed the second way but replacing his sda5 with my sdb6 as root

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 16 '13 at 07:35

-1

I just randomly started typing stuff... try:

(initramfs) blkid
(initramfs) blockdev --rereadpt /dev/sda
(initramfs) blkid
(initramfs) exit

This at least gets you to the desktop where you can begin trouble shooting your problem which is probably due to a proprietary driver or something

answered Mar 16 '13 at 07:35

user140700

25

blkid was GOD in initramfs! ls -l in GRUB (Grand Universal Bootloader) – testing_22 Oct 22 '21 at 20:14
can you please explain us what this does? – Enrico Sep 21 '23 at 14:43

Gave up waiting for root device on Ubuntu

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