Gave up waiting for root device on Ubuntu
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.
Solution 1:
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
Solution 2:
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.
Solution 3:
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!