Comment 2 for bug 512253

Same here. Old i386 hardware, Ubuntu 9.10 Server (!)

Linux ubuntu910server 2.6.31-17-generic-pae #54-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 10 17:23:29 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

If you screw up your /etc/networking/interfaces file (such as I did, very late at night), the system will NOT boot anymore, under any GRUB option (normal or "recovery mode").

The only way to recover is to boot from some sort of live CD and edit the offending file.

It hangs like so:
/dev/sdb1: clean, 50464/490560 files, 301233/1961930 blocks
init: network-interface (eth1) pre-start process (440) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (eth0) pre-start process (470) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (lo) pre-start process (482) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (eth1) post-stop process (485) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (eth0) post-stop process (486) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (lo) post-stop process (487) terminated with status 1

The offending /etc/networking/interfaces had a big mistake like this:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet 192.168.0.222

However, I think it is ridiculous for a mistake on the config file to PREVENT a server from booting! Adding insult to injury, there is no way to recover from this problem, except booting off a live CD. Please take corrective action!