I was using my laptop with Ubuntu without problem for a few months. I did not update any software or install any OS updates.

This morning when it started, I got

error: no such device:....
error: no such disk
error: you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

Then takes me back to GRUB menu. Both Ubuntu option and recovery mode option show the same thing (above).

What does this mean? How do I fix it?

Since I did not install anything new, does it mean the SSD is dying (again)? How to check the SSD to and fix any file system errors?

Ubuntu 11.04

EDIT: Just remembered something: when the system was shutting down, it did not turn off. There were a bunch of weird output statements, and I assumed the system had shut down so I turned it off with the power button. Perhaps something got corrupted because of that.