Booted to initramfs - no such file or directory error

[TwoFistedJustice]

After downloading yesterday's updates and rebooting, my file system seems to have been corrupted. My Thinkpad X260 booted to 'initramfs'.

I found several similar solutions but none seem to exactly match my conditions and I don't want to fry my system.

I typed 'help' to get a list of commands. and 'exit' which pulled down which directories are corrupted. Some seem to be entirely missing, as opposed to simply scrambled.

What can I do to fix it?

Here is a screenshot

[mr_raider]

Can you boot from the previous kernel successfully?

[TwoFistedJustice]

Can you boot from the previous kernel successfully?

Yes. Using Refind, I was able to go into Grub and choose a previous kernel and boot into that.

What do I do from there?

[GreyGeek]

Uninstall the bad kernel and doing that doesn't update grub then rerun grub-update.

[TwoFistedJustice]

Uninstall the bad kernel and doing that doesn't update grub then rerun grub-update.

I was unable to remove the offending kernel. I am booted into 5.3.0-62

this is the output:

hoo@Ares:~$ sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic
dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic:
linux-image-generic-hwe-18.04 depends on linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic.
linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-42-generic depends on linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic | linux-image-unsigned-5.4.0-42-generic; however:
 Package linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic is to be removed.
 Package linux-image-unsigned-5.4.0-42-generic is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic (--purge):
dependency problems - not removing
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic

hoo@Ares:~$ dpkg -l | tail -n +6 | grep -E 'linux-image-[0-9]+' | grep -Fv $(uname -r)
rc  linux-image-5.0.0-23-generic                    5.0.0-23.24~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.0.0-29-generic                    5.0.0-29.31~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.0.0-31-generic                    5.0.0-31.33~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.0.0-32-generic                    5.0.0-32.34~18.04.2                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.0.0-35-generic                    5.0.0-35.38~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.0.0-36-generic                    5.0.0-36.39~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.0.0-37-generic                    5.0.0-37.40~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-26-generic                    5.3.0-26.28~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-28-generic                    5.3.0-28.30~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-40-generic                    5.3.0-40.32~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-42-generic                    5.3.0-42.34~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-45-generic                    5.3.0-45.37~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-46-generic                    5.3.0-46.38~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-51-generic                    5.3.0-51.44~18.04.2                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-53-generic                    5.3.0-53.47~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-59-generic                    5.3.0-59.53~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.3.0-61-generic                    5.3.0-61.55~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic                    5.4.0-42.46~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic

[FONT=monospace][COLOR=#54FF54][B]oo@Ares[/B][/COLOR]:[COLOR=#5454FF][B]~[/B][/COLOR]$ sudo dpkg --list | egrep -i --color 'linux-image|linux-headers'            
ii  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-headers[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-62                          5.3.0-62.56~18.04.1                                 all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.3.0
ii  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-headers[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-62-generic                  5.3.0-62.56~18.04.1                                 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.3.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-headers[/B][/COLOR]-5.4.0-42-generic                  5.4.0-42.46~18.04.1                                 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-headers[/B][/COLOR]-generic-hwe-18.04                 5.4.0.42.46~18.04.35                                amd64        Generic Linux kernel headers
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.0.0-23-generic                    5.0.0-23.24~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.0.0-29-generic                    5.0.0-29.31~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.0.0-31-generic                    5.0.0-31.33~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.0.0-32-generic                    5.0.0-32.34~18.04.2                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.0.0-35-generic                    5.0.0-35.38~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.0.0-36-generic                    5.0.0-36.39~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.0.0-37-generic                    5.0.0-37.40~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-26-generic                    5.3.0-26.28~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-28-generic                    5.3.0-28.30~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-40-generic                    5.3.0-40.32~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-42-generic                    5.3.0-42.34~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-45-generic                    5.3.0-45.37~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-46-generic                    5.3.0-46.38~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-51-generic                    5.3.0-51.44~18.04.2                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-53-generic                    5.3.0-53.47~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-59-generic                    5.3.0-59.53~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-61-generic                    5.3.0-61.55~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.3.0-62-generic                    5.3.0-62.56~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
pi  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-5.4.0-42-generic                    5.4.0-42.46~18.04.1                                 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  [COLOR=#FF5454][B]linux-image[/B][/COLOR]-generic-hwe-18.04                   5.4.0.42.46~18.04.35                                amd64        Generic Linux kernel image

[/FONT]

[TwoFistedJustice]

I was able to uninstall the bad kernel using Muon. Reboot into the previous kernel happened automatically with the next reboot.

So should I try to re-install 5.4.0-42 or should I just walk away? I'm a little afraid it will break my system again...

[mr_raider]

It is highly likely something broke during the installation of kernel 5.4.

You never "broke" your system since you managed to fix it yourself.

My suggestion is run the update from a terminal and inspect the output properly:

sudo apt full-upgrade

You can paste the output here if something looks fishy.

Btw next this happens hit shift or ESC during boot. This will show grub menu and you can just select the previous kernel.

[oshunluvr]

I've been seeing this on my KDEneon install fairly often. In my case I'm suspicious that it's hardware related, but I don't know which piece of hardware, but it might be 18.04.

Mine happens this way:

• Using the computer heavily - like gaming or transcoding.
• Computer locks up.
• Sometimes it reboots itself, sometimes not.
• After reboot or repowering, it almost always shows similar kernel panic.
• Sometimes 2-3 resets results in a good boot.
• More often, I select the previous kernel and it boots.
• In either case, I rebuild the initramfs for the newer kernel and next reboot, it's fine.

Since it seems to always happen during heavy load, it could be RAM or heat.

The point of sharing this is twofold: it may not actually be the kernel, and it is usually fixable by just rebuild initramfs.

I'm basically waiting for kdeNeon 20.04 base to drop, then I'm doing a clean install. If it continues to happen, I'mma have to break into the PC bucks fund and upgrade.

[TwoFistedJustice]

It is highly likely something broke during the installation of kernel 5.4.

My suggestion is run the update from a terminal and inspect the output properly:

sudo apt full-upgrade

I believe I read somewhere (don't recall where) that if I run that command it will upgrade my system to Kubuntu 20.04.

Is that not correct?

[jglen490]

That is not correct.
From man apt

full-upgrade (apt-get(8))
full-upgrade performs the function of upgrade but will remove currently installed packages if this is needed to upgrade the system as
a whole.

It only does in-version and point release software upgrades, not next version.

[oshunluvr]

I believe I read somewhere (don't recall where) that if I run that command it will upgrade my system to Kubuntu 20.04.

Is that not correct?

to add a bit to this:

sudo do-release-upgrade

is the command that upgrades version. full-upgrade is the recommended way to completely upgrade your current packages.

[TwoFistedJustice]

This is happening to me again. I ran the upgrade to 20.04 and the new kernel booted to initramfs. I followed the procedures from this thread again.
(yes I realize this is 18.04 section, but this is the same iteration of the problem from before the upgrade that is simply unresolved)

Uninstalled 5.4.0-70-generic.

Now I'm back on 5.3.0-62, which is the same version I was running 9 months ago.

So it looks like there is something fishy with my system that it won't run anything later than the aforementioned version.

What steps can I take to fix this?

[jglen490]

Honestly, at this point, if this was my system, I would backup all my important files and data, and do a clean install of 20.04. You will save your important stuff and rid yourself of the junk that may be on your system, leaving you with a fresh computing platform.

I do that all the time, and it saves a lot of installation and troubleshooting time. YMMV.

[GreyGeek]

I second what jglen490 said, and add that it would be prudent to install BTRFS as the base file system. Using it, you can take a few seconds to make a snapshot of your system, make system changes, and if things work out OK after testing the changes, then continue using it. If the changes create problems or make your system unusable, then take a minute to roll back to your pre-change snapshot and reboot. You're back in business in less time than it takes to heat a cup of tea.