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Installed ubuntu 20.04LTS a few days back. I cannot boot, every time i try it sends me into busybox with initramfs error. I have searched for the solution on this site but didn't find one.

i have typed exit but it doesn't show anything. I expected it would at least show some errors. I have used a live USB to access Gparted, but i dont see my hardrive on it.

I ran fdisk -l and df -h command and got this output :

    Disk /dev/loop0: 1.98 GiB, 2103640064 bytes, 4108672 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: 29.9 MiB, 31334400 bytes, 61200 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: 54.98 MiB, 57626624 bytes, 112552 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: 255.58 MiB, 267980800 bytes, 523400 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: 62.9 MiB, 65105920 bytes, 127160 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: 49.8 MiB, 52203520 bytes, 101960 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: 14.54 GiB, 15597568000 bytes, 30464000 sectors
Disk model: Cruzer Blade    
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: 0x007e70e5

Device     Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *     2048 30463999 30461952 14.5G  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


root@ubuntu:~# df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            2.8G     0  2.8G   0% /dev
tmpfs           583M  1.7M  581M   1% /run
/dev/sda1        15G  2.6G   12G  18% /cdrom
/dev/loop0      2.0G  2.0G     0 100% /rofs
/cow            2.9G  132M  2.8G   5% /
tmpfs           2.9G   50M  2.8G   2% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  8.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           2.9G     0  2.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           2.9G     0  2.9G   0% /tmp
tmpfs           583M   72K  582M   1% /run/user/999
/dev/loop1       30M   30M     0 100% /snap/snapd/8542
/dev/loop2       55M   55M     0 100% /snap/core18/1880
/dev/loop3      256M  256M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/36
/dev/loop4       63M   63M     0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506
/dev/loop5       50M   50M     0 100% /snap/snap-store/467

I can see my hard drive in BIOS. But it's not showing up in Gparted and disk utility.

Is there a problem with the hardrive or is it software related problem ?

Comreset error 2 3 4 5

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  • Can you boot into Recovery Mode, or an older kernel? If so, I may have some things for you to try. You have NCQ errors, and possibly at least one bad block.
    – heynnema
    Nov 11, 2020 at 2:14
  • @heynnema I cannot boot into recovery mode. My harddrive isn't showing up in BIOS either.
    – Silver
    Nov 11, 2020 at 2:22
  • You may have a bad HDD SATA cable, or needs to be re-seated, or a bad HDD. You'll have to open the laptop to re-seat the cable and see if that fixes it.
    – heynnema
    Nov 11, 2020 at 2:23
  • @heynnema I did as you instructed. Thankfully bios is recognizing the harddrive. I have entered grub rescue mode. It's also showing "failure reading sector 0x1032e0 from 'hd0' "
    – Silver
    Nov 11, 2020 at 2:30
  • Good. Progress. Give me a few minutes to put together an initial answer for you.
    – heynnema
    Nov 11, 2020 at 2:49

2 Answers 2

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Hard drive has bad sectors, backup from livecd with ddrescue if there's anything important, replace drive and reinstall.

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  • i just replaced the hardrive a year ago. This is the second hardrive i have installed on my laptop. Is there no work around ? Where i live hardrives are very expensive. I would have bought one if this was a one time problem. But this is the second time this has happened.
    – Silver
    Nov 11, 2020 at 2:07
  • @Silver It may not be a defective hard drive, per se. You have NCQ errors, and possibly at least one bad block, maybe more. Not quite enough data yet.
    – heynnema
    Nov 11, 2020 at 2:18
  • RMA the drive if under warranty after doing a bad block test, consider evaluating what could damage the drive from your usage, make sure you transport your laptop properly. Laptop hard drive break from both physical and electrical shocks. Considering heynnema comment, you may want to test the drive on another computer to evaluate if the problem is not the storage controller itself or cables between your drive and the storage controller.
    – Zulgrib
    Nov 11, 2020 at 2:20
  • Thanks for the reply.i had hard drive tested on another computer. It appeared dead. Will have to replace the hard drive and install the Os from scratch. This is the 2nd hard drive I am replacing. Any tips to take care of and maintain the health of hard drive ?
    – Silver
    Nov 11, 2020 at 7:41
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I have Ubuntu 18.04 and sometimes it sends me into busybox too, usually after long time of suspended mode. The reason is probably bad sectors in the hdd. I see your partition is sda1, you can try this:

fsck /dev/sda1 -y

"-y" is for automatically respond yes to questions "Yes or no" in the prompt.

After this you must reboot your computer with:

reboot

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