What to do after Failed to start Load Kernel Modules

I found exactly what I needed in a discussion in ubuntuforums.org. Specifically, I was looking for the command:

dpkg --configure -a

The linked article above mentions four commands that may help resolve this problem and notes that they may need to be repeated "in no specific order":

apt-get update
dpkg --configure -a
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get -f install

I had the impression something went wrong on an update / kernel update:

Booted into recovery mode.

• menu "root": manually revoked network

  ifconfig ethx <ip> netmask <mask> up
  echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" > /etc/resolv.conf
  apt-get update
  

• menu "dpkg": Repaired installation

• back to menu "root": repair kernel initramfs

  update-initramfs -k all -u
  update-grub