Can't Boo - Stuck at Grub2/Initramfs Screens

So I'm wondering if you guys knew any way I can access a repair option from the install disk.

Boot live session. Open Gparted. Right click on installed partition on internal hard drive. Right click>unmount.
After it finishes. Right click again>check. Let it finish. Shut down and reboot. Pick

hd - boot the first hard disk

See if it is fixed. I have the same problem once where it would not boot on one kernel because of disk corruption.
Drop me to the initramfs prompt.
But would boot OK on another older kernel. Weird but true.

Got into GParted. Unfortunately when I right-click on what looks to be the right partition, Unmount is not an option. There's Mount, but I can't select it. Feel like I'm so friggin' close!

You could choose the live option. Then edit things to the mounted HD install. Your /boot/grub/grub.cfg is probably off a bit, or your /etc/fstab, or you need an initrd image of the kernel to include the drivers needed to load the drivers that you need. I would assume that the initramfs error has something to do with that initrd image. It's either not there, or it's looking in the wrong place for it. The /dev/ names are unreliable and should probably be swapped from root=/dev/ to root=UUID= or root=LABEL= along with the equivalent changes in /etc/fstab. Or the non-existance of /etc/fstab is sometimes better. Although without /etc/fstab the / filesystem gets mounted read-only when you boot. Easily compensated for, but annoying.

# mount -o remount,rw /

$ cat /proc/partitions
$ lsblk
$ blkid /dev/sda1

And various other ways to identify things. On my system it looks something like.

from grub.cfg

linux   /boot/vmlinuz-4.0.1 root=UUID=20150720-2222-2222-2222-222222222222 ro  quiet
initrd  /boot/initrd.img-4.0.1

from /etc/fstab

UUID="20150720-2222-2222-2222-222222222222" / xfs defaults 0 1

Sometimes the initrd line in grub points at /initrd.img which is a symlink to the real one. But if you install another kernel, it could point at the wrong one. Using the full filename helps avoid the confusion.

$ ls -l /

lrwxrwxrwx   1 root  root    31 May  3 16:37 initrd.img -> /boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-amd64
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root  root    27 May  3 16:37 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-amd64

As you can see from my system, loading a 4.0.1 kernel with the initrd image pointed at a 3.16 kernel (the distros kernel) is a point of failure I recently had. Changing "initrd /initrd.img" to "initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.0.1" in the grub.cfg overcame that issue. Triggered in my case by an update to the 3.16 distro kernel after I had installed my 4.0.1 custom kernel. As all kernel updates from the distro reruns update-grub.

Wow. Okay. Well I've noticed in GParted that the partition in question is showing as not mounted, which I guess is why I'm not getting an unmount option when right-clicking. I'm gonna look all this over Shadow to see if I can make sense of it and get back to you guys when I have some worthy updates. Thanks again!

I am going by

My laptop battery ran out of juice,

which tells me the OP improperly unmounted the root file system and hence corrupted the root partition which then caused the fail boot.

Not a grub failure. But a corrupted root file partition.

So pretty pictures urls on this atom netbook with a ssd formatted as ext 2 file system are coming next. Which I described earlier as having the same problem as the OP.

http://i.imgur.com/aMpjrrn.png

http://i.imgur.com/MFMhM6K.png

http://i.imgur.com/gdZhh3i.png

http://i.imgur.com/1oNqt3A.png

http://i.imgur.com/4hytegV.png

http://i.imgur.com/F3unV5Q.png

Now to shutdown and reboot and see if I can get to a desktop or am just full of hot air.

Just to show it is the same netbook

root@partedmagic:/usr/bin# inxi -Fxz
Resuming in non X mode: xdpyinfo not found. For package install advice run: inxi --recommends
System:    Host: partedmagic Kernel: 3.10.4-pmagic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.0) Desktop: Openbox 3.5.0
           Distro: Parted Magic 2013_08_01
Machine:   System: manda (portable) product: Intel powered classmate PC v: Gen 1.5L
           Mobo: N/A model: N/A
           Bios: American Megatrends v: CM94515A.86A.0024.2008.0715.1716 date: 07/15/2008
CPU:       Single core Intel Core N270 (-HT-) cache: 512 KB
           flags: (nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 3191
           clock speeds: max: 1600 MHz 1: 800 MHz 2: 1333 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: N/A drivers: intel (unloaded: vesa)
           tty size: 105x35 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Audio:     Card Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.10.4-pmagic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: ec00 bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: NA (-) ID-1: /dev/sda model: KingSpec_KSD size: 63.3GB temp: 0C
           ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: DataTraveler_2.0 size: 2.0GB temp: 0C
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 65.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 122 Uptime: 40 min Memory: 213.6/998.8MB Init: SysVinit Gcc sys: N/A
           Client: Shell (bash 4.2.372) inxi: 2.2.26 
root@partedmagic:/usr/bin#

Apparently I am not full of hot air. This netbook also improperly shutdown due to battery dying out before shutdown.

http://i.imgur.com/C31Ens4.jpg

harry@biker:~
$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: biker Kernel: 3.17-7.dmz.2-liquorix-686-pae i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.3)
           Desktop: IceWM 1.3.8+githubmod+20150412+960629d
           Distro: antiX-13_386-full Luddite 01 June 2013
Machine:   System: manda (portable) product: Intel powered classmate PC v: Gen 1.5L
           Mobo: N/A model: N/A
           Bios: American Megatrends v: CM94515A.86A.0024.2008.0715.1716 date: 07/15/2008
CPU:       Single core Intel Core N270 (-HT-) cache: 512 KB
           flags: (nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 3191
           clock speeds: max: 1600 MHz 1: 1600 MHz 2: 1067 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.17.2 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1024x600@53.33hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 945GME x86/MMX/SSE2
           GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.5.8 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: ALSA v: k3.17-7.dmz.2-liquorix-686-pae
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: ec00 bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: eth1 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 63.3GB (63.7% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: KingSpec_KSD size: 63.3GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 59G used: 38G (69%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 62.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 114 Uptime: 10 min Memory: 290.8/997.2MB
           Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 4.9.2
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.331) inxi: 2.2.26 
harry@biker:~
$ inxi -r
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/antix.list
           deb http://antix.daveserver.info/testing/ testing main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
           deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
           deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/liquorix.list
           deb http://liquorix.net/debian/ sid main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list
           deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ experimental iceweasel-beta
           deb http://www.duinsoft.nl/pkg/ debs all

It would boot with my 3.2 kernel but not the 3.17 kernel which I was probably in when it shut down. It is now fixed so I do not need to reinstall as this is a current Debian Testing netbook already upgraded. I have no problems with a reinstall as I know how to save files via a live session to external hard drive already. Just showing that under certain circumstances. This is a viable fix for improper root file system shutdowns that corrupt the root partition.

It might not fix the OP system maybe. I am not sure because I am not physically behind his/her back. If it works. Great. If it does not. Too bad. Nothing lost trying it out.

Definitely worth a try Rokytnji. All this stuff looks foreign to me right now, but when I can I'm gonna look it over and see if I can figure this stuff out. Feel like I'm close. Thanks for all your help. Everyone!

It worked! Rokytnji I followed your steps in GParted and got my old system back! Thank you so much. All of you! You guys rock! I recently wrote an article about LinuxQuestions being a great community resource for a client and ironically I ended having to use it. Even with my crap luck it turned out to be true. So very grateful!