run-init: /sbin/init" I/O error "kernel panic not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

My Ubuntu 10.04 LTS / 64 bit failed to start with the error message, "run-init: /sbin/init" I/O error "kernel panic not syncing: Attempted to kill init!", with the CAPSLOCK constantly blinking, all of a sudden. It was working very fine, till the day before, and all of a sudden this failure happened without any apparent reason. The recovery mode and the attempts to log in through the previous versions of the kernel were not successful either. When logging in through a Live CD, it suggested no error on disk and it had been mounted properly too.

So I tried to use "mkinitramfs" from /boot to build mkinitrd and rebooted. "update-mkinitramfs" (sudo, of course!) from the live CD didn't work either, as the drive was found to be read-only media just for that command! Similarly also tried to get initramdr from the LiveCD using the same command, and also downloaded from the relevant site, and restarted after adding the relevant menu entry to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and rebooted. Still no luck.

menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-14-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux 
--class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
    insmod gzio
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 890aebc7-6238-4ce9-99d1-356b3f0163a4
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-14-generic root=UUID=890aebc7-6238-4ce9-99d1-356b3f0163a4 ro   quiet splash vt.handoff=7
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-14-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-14-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    insmod gzio
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 890aebc7-6238-4ce9-99d1-356b3f0163a4
    echo    'Loading Linux 3.0.0-14-generic ...'
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-14-generic root=UUID=890aebc7-6238-4ce9-99d1-356b3f0163a4 ro recovery nomodeset
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-14-generic
}

There are many threads on "Kernel Panic". But only a very few comes to the point, and only a tiny bit of those sites actually suggests some fix to try, where many of those threads are still unanswered questions for years. From what I learned, this "Kernel Panic" seems to be one deadly issue that can happen for multiple reasons - and is not an easy fix - except by the means of compiling the kernel or simply reinstalling the operating system. After trying all possible attempts to fix this, and also after trying to compile kernel, I decided the time invested on this is a bit waste. Hence I backed up everything on my Ubuntu to my windows partition through the Live CD and re-installed Ubuntu.

I have installed Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), where I had 10.04 before. The first impressions were not so nice, thanks to the new Unity interface. However, "sudo apt-get install gnome-shell" followed by "sudo apt-get remove unity" resolved the issue, letting me switch to gnome3 interface. :) Now I am awaiting the release of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS to upgrade in a few months.

Apart from this Kernel Panic, there were a few other remarkable events too. One was the GSoC awareness session at the University of Jaffna (Presentation Slides). The WSO2 offsite at Avani Hotel, Bentota was remarkable as well. These were the remarkable events of the first fortnight of the year 2012. This year seems to be so eventful!