I've started getting this intermittently in the past week on 10.10/Maverick Meerkat. It's hard to get a log of the error message when it does happen but it includes:
run-init: nuking initramfs contents: Directory not empty Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! run-init not tainted 2.6.35-28-generic #49-Ubuntu -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/155689 Title: nuking initramfs contents: Kernel panic at boot -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs