Questions[initramfs](ubuntu)

I recently updated from Ubuntu 18.04 to 19.10. It looks to me as if the update installed an older kernel (5.3.0-29) than the one I had running under 18.04 (5.0.0-36). Since then I've had errors on all apt updates which show initramfs failing:

Setting up initramfs-tools (0.133ubuntu10) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.133ubuntu10) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-29-generic
Error 24 : Write error : cannot write compressed block 
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 lz4 -9 -l 24
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-5.3.0-29-generic with 1.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
 installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned 
error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 initramfs-tools
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

My output of uname -r is

5.3.0-29-generic

and

alex@acer:~$ dpkg --list | grep linux-image
ii  linux-image-5.0.0-36-generic                  5.0.0-36.39                                         amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-5.3.0-29-generic                  5.3.0-29.31                                         amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-generic                           5.3.0.29.33                                         amd64        Generic Linux kernel image

Any ideas on how to solve? I'm not even sure what the issue is, but have gone through plenty of other solutions.

I've been having an error when updating or running any apt command for a week or so. Upgrading to LTS 18.04 hasn't resolved it, nor has removing all old kernels. Space isn't an issue either.

Attempting to reinstall initramfs doesn't work. Error I get is:

   Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up linux-image-4.15.0-47-generic (4.15.0-47.50) ...
Setting up initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.7) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for linux-image-4.15.0-47-generic (4.15.0-47.50) ...
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-47-generic
E: /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/fsck failed with return 1.
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-47-generic with 1.
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools exited with return code 1
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-4.15.0-47-generic (--configure):
 installed linux-image-4.15.0-47-generic package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.7) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-47-generic
E: /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/fsck failed with return 1.
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-47-generic with 1.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
 installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 linux-image-4.15.0-47-generic
 initramfs-tools

Anyone got any ideas as to what I can do?

Thanks.

I want to install Ubuntu to a USB hard drive so that it will run on all systems, that can run the LiveCD and store persistent data on a regular ext4 partition rather than a casper-rw file. In every other way it should behave like a regular Ubuntu installation.

The problem

With Startup Disk Creator one is able to put the LiveCD image on a USB-device. Changes can be made persistent but are stored in a file that is limited to a few GB in size. Said persistent file (additionally to being size restricted) has the problem that it isn't readable like data on a normal partition.*

My question

So how do I get the LiveCD on a USB disk in such a way that the changes are stored in a normal partition rather than a persistence file? Also the persistent changes shouldn't be restricted to a few GB in size but use whole partition of many 100 GB if need be.

I suspect there is a tutorial out there for this, but my google-fu is just not good enough to find it.

tl;dr:

Sytem should run on all hardware configurations, have full functionality of the LiveCD and be stored on a regular ext4 partiton without using ramdisks and casper-rw. FU casper-rw.

*I know one could mount the casper-rw file from another OS and get to the data this way but that's a hassle.

I am running an HP pavilion dv6000 dual boot win7 and Ubuntu 12.04. (well, up until today). After a reboot, the boot process drops to the BusyBox shell and I end up at the prompt:

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 been researching others who have had this same problem, but haven't been able to find any of those solutions to work for me.

I tried the method described here, and after the final command

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /root -o force

it does nothing and gives me another (initramfs) prompt.

I can boot to a live CD (USB) and get to a terminal, but it doesn't seem to do much good, as I can see the /dev/sda1 in the ls command, but it doesn't recognize it when I try to cd to it.

One more question: using the command fdisk -l how can I tell which mount point (sda1/sda2) is my windows partition and which one is Ubuntu?

Error message:

(initramfs) unable to find a live medium containing a live file system

I got this error while trying to install Ubuntu 10.10 from a bootable USB stick on to Asus X64J series laptop. After getting this error the installation fails to start.

I have used the same USB stick on some other laptops and the installation started as usual. Any help will be appreciated.