How to fix boot and mount failed drops to initramfs prompt in Ubuntu 12.04?

Posted by msPeachy on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by msPeachy
Published on 2012-07-08T12:50:54Z Indexed on 2012/07/08 15:23 UTC
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Ubuntu partition does not boot. This started after a power interruption during system boot. The next time I boot, I encountered the following error message:

mount: mounting /dev/disk/by-uuid/3f7f5cd9d-6ea3-4da7-b5ec-**** on /root
failed: Invalid argument
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /proc on /root/proc failed: No such file or directory
Target file system doesn't have /sbin/init.
No init found. Try passing init= bootarg.

Busybox v1.18.5 (Ubuntu 1:1.18.5-1ubuntu4) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
(initramfs) _

I've searched for similar posts here and most of the recommended solution is to reboot to the Ubuntu LiveCD. That's another problem because I cannot boot to a LIVEUSB, this is the error message I get when booting to a LiveUSB:

Busybox v1.18.5 (Ubuntu 1:1.18.5-1ubuntu4) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
(initramfs) mount: mounting /dev/sda2 on /isodevice failed: Invalid argument

Could not find the ISO /ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso. 
This could also happen if the file system is not clean because of an 
operating system crash, an interrupted boot process, an improper shutdown, or 
unplugging of a removable device without first unmounting or ejecting it. 
To fix this, simply reboot into Windows, let it fully start, log in, 
run 'chkdsk /r', then gracefully shut down and reboot back into Windows. 
After this you should be able to reboot again and resume the installation.

I cannot boot into Windows because I don't have a Windows partition. Do I have to install Windows to fix this problem? Is there a way to fix this in the (initramfs) prompt? Please help. Thank you!

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