Unable to boot "Gave up waiting for root device" "Dropping to a shell"

[Ankit]

On a fresh install (and also reinstall due to the same problem) of the Linux (LXDE) the system fails to boot after a few days of booting up perfectly fine.

I get an error message saying "Gave up waiting for root device" and then drops to the (initramfs) prompt.

When this problem first occurred, simply typing "exit" at the prompt would resume the boot process. However, now I have to wait for almost 90 seconds (I'm guessing) before the "exit" command is able to resume boot process.

I have noticed that the time during which the system is unable to resume the boot up process, the /dev/disk/ folder does not exist. In my earlier attempts at diagnosing the problem I have tried:
1. Reinstalling the grub
2. Identifying disks using the UUID as well as sda/sdb in the Grub
3. Updating the Linux kernel (previous install)

On the bright side, once the system boots up it runs fine without a glitch. This is an old laptop with an unserviceable DVD drive plugged in that is disabled in the BIOS.

I hope that you folks can help me find a solution for this annoying problem. Thanks!

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: linux-image-3.13.0-62-generic 3.13.0-62.102
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-62.102-generic 3.13.11-ckt24
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-62-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.11
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ankit 2464 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'iw'
CurrentDesktop: LXDE
Date: Thu Aug 20 21:26:51 2015
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=c8ee408d-05a2-44e9-aeaa-8db6555537bb
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-06-21 (60 days ago)
InstallationMedia: LXLE 14.04 - Release amd64
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1bcf:0005 Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc.
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard V6604AU
ProcFB: 0 VESA VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-62-generic root=UUID=04508ab2-a9c3-4206-b045-56f2029e23ba ro quiet splash rootdelay=10 rootwait=10 vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-62-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-62-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.127.15
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: zram
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
WifiSyslog:

dmi.bios.date: 03/22/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: F.34
dmi.board.name: 30CF
dmi.board.vendor: Quanta
dmi.board.version: 85.26
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Quanta
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvrF.34:bd03/22/2011:svnHewlett-Packard:pnV6604AU:pvrRev1:rvnQuanta:rn30CF:rvr85.26:cvnQuanta:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: V6604AU
dmi.product.version: Rev 1
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Do you apply any updates or upgrade any packages in the time between the system booting fine and it then failing?

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Ankit (ankitmhn)]

@Joseph... to be honest I don't really remember if I applied any updates as it was a fresh install and I was installing various softwares and development environments.

One thing that I am pretty sure of is that I did not run any kernel updates during that intervening time.