Cannot boot: “No init found. Try passing init=bootarg” standard fix not working

Question

I'm getting the booting error as per Cannot boot: "No init found. Try passing init=bootarg"

I'm run commands in a liveCD terminal

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 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 identifier: 0x00638cbf

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63       80324       40131   de  Dell Utility
/dev/sda2   *    30801920   241535341   105366711    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       241537022   312580095    35521537    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       241537024   309569535    34016256   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       309571584   312580095     1504256   82  Linux swap / Solaris
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fsck -y /dev/sda1
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
fsck.fat 3.0.26 (2014-03-07)
/dev/sda1: 82 files, 4367/20017 clusters
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fsck -y /dev/sda2
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
fsck: fsck.ntfs: not found
fsck: error 2 while executing fsck.ntfs for /dev/sda2
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fsck -y /dev/sda3
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
e2fsck 1.42.9 (4-Feb-2014)
fsck.ext2: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while trying to open /dev/sda3
Could this be a zero-length partition?
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fsck -y /dev/sda4
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
e2fsck 1.42.9 (4-Feb-2014)
fsck.ext2: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/sda4
Possibly non-existent device?
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fsck -y /dev/sda5
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
e2fsck 1.42.9 (4-Feb-2014)
/dev/sda5: clean, 160379/2129920 files, 1067688/8504064 blocks

I got the solution from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTH3nJ9OOBM . When I reboot I get the same error. One thing I can think of is that I created a new liveCD, maybe it needs to be the correct version?

What to do/ what more info do you need?

Answer 1

This bug sounds like a core problem with Ubuntu. It appears that your init file is missing or corrupt. There are two ways to solve this problem:

Option 1

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You can simply re-install Ubuntu. This is the simplest and most reliable method of solving this problem. It also always works.

If you want to save your data, use a LiveCD in "Trial" mode and copy all important stuff to a USB drive. You can then install directly from the drive.

Option 2

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It is theoretically possible to pull a working init executable from a working installation and putting that in your /sbin folder. This, however, is rather complicated. You can try doing this:

1. Mount the install drive to the /mnt folder
2. As root, copy the init file from /sbin/init to /mnt/sbin/init.
3. Verify and copy the permissions from the working install to the bad install.
4. Test by rebooting.

You should only do this on functionally identical installs. Meaning, don't use a livecd. Instead, use a spare hard drive.

Pull out the current laptop hard drive and put it in an external caddy. Put the clean drive into the laptop and install Ubuntu. Then, mount and copy.