I know you posted this back in May, but I found some stuff that might help anyone looking at this article. I have the same exact problem, and I have not found a true fix for my symptoms yet, but I figured I would post some of my findings.
First, the trick with running some apt-get updates can be found here:link.
I modified mine a bit based on some other articles I read, and also because I encountered one error message with the cp command while trying to copy:
(This is assuming you did the first two steps from the link above and are running from a Live CD that you booted from)
sudo mkdir /media/precise
sudo mkdir /media/precise/proc /media/precise/dev /media/precise/etc
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/precise
sudo mount -o bind /proc /media/precise/proc
sudo mount -o bind /dev /media/precise/dev/
sudo mount -o bind /dev/pts /media/precise/dev/pts
sudo cp --remove-destination /etc/resolv.conf /media/precise/etc/resolv.conf
sudo chroot /media/precise apt-get update
sudo chroot /media/precise apt-get upgrade
sudo chroot /media/precise apt-get update --fix-missing
sudo chroot /media/precise dpkg --configure -a
sudo chroot /media/precise dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
sudo chroot /media/precise apt-get -f install
The reason I had to add the --remove-destination is because I was getting an error message that read something to the effect of:
cp: not writing through dangling symlink path/to/danling/symlink/a-file
(found the solution for that here: force cp to copy on dangling symlinks)
Secondly, it wasn't until the OS booted that the problem presented itself (hence why the Live Disk worked just fine). So, choosing different option in Grub was possible. I had gone back by two kernels and still had the problem.
Finally, while working on it with someone else at work, he had looked the computer the day before, and said that he booted back several kernels and got into command line, but not GUI. This was a great start because I had an Apache Web Server I needed to get up and available for people again ASAP. So, right now, the machine is running on an old kernel with a broken GUI but apparently working CLI and I am not sure what to do next. Try to remove the kernel? Remove and reinstall X? Not totally sure, but at least its a start, and maybe the link and code I listed above will be a fix for someone else with this problem.
Best Answer
Immediately after the BIOS/UEFI splash screen during boot, with BIOS, quickly press and hold the Shift key, which will bring up a GNU GRUB menu screen. With UEFI press (perhaps several times) the Esc key to get to the GNU GRUB menu screen. Sometimes the manufacturer's splash screen is a part of the Windows bootloader, so when you power up the machine it goes straight to the GNU GRUB menu screen, and then pressing Shift is unnecessary.
You will see a GNU GRUB menu screen that looks like this. Select Advanced options for Ubuntu and press Enter.
A new purple screen will appear showing a list of kernels, which includes options of booting the kernels normally or in recovery mode.
Use the ↑ and ↓ keys to select which entry is highlighted. Press Enter to boot the selected OS and kernel combination with a choice of either not in recovery mode or in recovery mode options.
From the Recovery Menu use the arrow keys to select root (the second entry from the bottom in the Recovery Menu) and then press Enter.
(Optional): Using the arrow keys scroll down to network (the third entry from the bottom in the Recovery Menu) and then press Enter.