edgy->feisty: upgrad hanged at restarting SSH server

[H.S.]

H.S. wrote:
> During Edgy-Feisty upgrade: the last line in the update-manager's 
> terminal windows says something like restarting openBSD secure shell 
> server. Looks like restarting of openssh-server hanged or something went 
> wrong here. I can't open a new terminal, can't change to a console and 
> neither can I ssh to that machine from another machine to see what could 
> be wrong. Any suggestions?
> 
> ->HS

A little follow-up: since the laptop stopped responding and stayed that 
way for around 20 minutes or more, I just rebooted it with the power 
switch. Now I cannot finish the boot process, it stops with a message 
something like: waiting for the root file system, then tells me the root 
UUID filesystem (followed by a long number) does not exist and gives me 
the initramfs prompt. I am thinking of booting it up with a LiveCD and 
see what is wrong. Advice?

->HS