Hello, mainframelenny77 here, pure newbie, first real post. Got a $100 linux (Ubuntu) laptop at goodwill a few weeks ago. So far just using it to support my scanner which HP chose not to support under WIN7. Anxious to learn more about Linux and will be attending local linux club.

Current problem, bootup only goes a little way and sops cold, msg says:

No init found. Try passing init= bootarg.

Busybox v1.13.3 (Ubuntu:1,13.3-1ubuntu11) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands

(initramfs)
(initramfs) help

Built-in commands:
------------------
. : { alias break cd chdir command continue echo eval exec exit
export false getopts hash help let local --- etc - let me know if you need the rest
(initramfs)

Looks like grub can't find the initrd file. Either grub's configuration file needs a bit of editing, or you're missing the the init file altogether. Try booting from a live CD or USB flash drive and post the contents of the laptop drive's /boot/grub/grub.cfg or /boot/grub/menu.lst file (which one you have will depend on the version of Ubuntu).

GRUB has lots of commands as inbuilts. Jus issue a at the command prompt.