So I'm a Linux newb and trying to play around with some distros to get my feet wet. I'm having a strange issue trying to install from a flash drive I made with Rufus. The last distro I had on the computer was Skywave. I turned it on today and was greeted with a command prompt I've never seen before so I decided I would give Ubuntu a whirl. The screenshots below show what I'm being presented partway through the installation process. I've used multiple flash drives, tried Ubuntu and Mint but still get the same errors. Anyone ever see something like this before? 
What version of ubuntu? 16.04? Is this going to be a dual MS boot?
It's Ubuntu 16.10 this will not be a dual boot, there is nothing else on the computer at all. That's the problem, I can't just boot into Windows if all else fails. I tried the command suggested in the first link and it didn't work. I fumbled around a bit and tried to change it around and it still didn't work.
ok, i think there is a little hickup. type help and in that menu there is an option to boot.
Typing help does present me with a list of commands but none of them have anything to do with booting unfortunately.
Can you be a bit more specific? What exactly do you do, and when do you see this problem? Is the installer environment/Live session loaded at all? Is this first boot after installing? Are you booting in EFI or BIOS?
Are you booting this from a USB 3.0 port. There have been similar issues with it in the past. If yes try to boot from a USB 2.0 port or if you do not have any try and disable the USB 3 driver from the BIOS.
I'm booting from a USB 2.0 port.
I'm booting to BIOS and this is after I've booted the computer trying to install the OS. I'll see the Ubuntu or Mint screen with the status dots briefly and then this prompt appears. So I'm not sure if the OS has successfully installed and I'm just booting into that prompt or if this is mid-installation.
The Os is installed, but not successfully. At least not 100 percent successfully, it is very close tho to being a perfect install. If I am understanding correctly, you went thru the install menu and such and rebooted to find this message.
I would imagine there is an issue with the hard drive or something similar since it does not boot into Ubuntu rather busybox. It has been a long time since I used Linux but I would imagine if you try to re install it may work.
For install type, what did you select? And did you choose your own file system, or did you use the default?
Negative, I tried to install multiple times with multiple distros. I never saw the language selection screen or chose any preferences.
Do you have the model number of the pc?
It's a Compaq laptop model 15-a052sg.
use dd when creating a linux install image. rufus is good but you will have better luck with dd
also check to see if you image is not corrupted
Do a checksum and then use this usb creator. It was the one Ubuntu recommended before Rufus.
Not sure what "dd" is but I've tried multiple images and I have the same error each time so it doesn't seem like the image is the problem.
Trying the other creator now. Thanks for the recommendation.
I ended up with the same prompt (initramfs) but with the error "Unable to find a medium with a live file system".
dd is a linux command line tool that copys data byte per byte.
have you tried to use a different usb drive?
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My bets are on a hardware issue as well.