[LUNI] Kubuntu won't boot after kernel update

[Mike Scott]

I have been running Kubuntu 7 (feisty fawn) with no problems.
Today, it wanted to update the kernel and afterward, when I rebooted,
all I get is the BusyBox prompt (initramfs) after the error message:

/bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off

BusyBox doesn't have squat for functions and I can't even run dmesg. 
Since (K)ubuntu linux is one of those distros that believes in
presenting a pretty face rather than giving me any useful info, I don't
get to see anything during boot except their logo.  I have to figure out
how to make it display boot messages.

I Googled a bit, but nothing in the Ubuntu formus seems particularly
helpful.  Unless my hard drive went south, but I only have a single
SATA drive and it is booting from it (no other bootable media in the
system).
Could one of the partitions gotten jacked?

I will try running the WD diagnostic tools, but it seems coincidental
that it would fail immediately on an upgrade.  This is my second drive
(the first one developed issues and was replaced by WD) and I am about
to give up on WD hard drives if this is indeed the problem.

ANy ideas?

- Mike Scott