Cannot use much of anything after software update

[DarthMedicus]

So here's the deal:

After having to sit on the Window's side of my dual-boot for almost a month (school related tasks that unfortunately could not be performed on the Kubuntu side), I logged into Kubuntu. There were numerous amounts of software updates available (naturally), so I did what I always do: updated, and went to sleep. When I woke up, there was a prompt to restart the computer (again, normal for me as there was a kernel update involved). So I restarted. When I booted back into Kubuntu is when I noticed that something was not quite right. I tried to open a browser, and it would force close without any warning or notification. So I tried to open Synaptic, and got the following message in Kdesudo - KDialog:

[Configuration file "/home/user/.kde/share/config/kdesudorc" not writable. Please contact your system administrator]

And Synaptic will take my password, but will not open the GUI.

Of course, I figured I should try to move my files onto an external drive just in case I needed to re-install Kubuntu, so I tried to open Dolphin, and got:

[Configuration file "/home/user/.kde/share/config/dolphinrc" not writable. Please contact your system administrator]

But Dolphin opens the GUI. However, I cannot see any files or directories, and it will not let me mount any drives. So I tried to open Konsole, and got this message:

[Configuration file "/home/user/.kde/share/config/konsolerc" not writable. Please contact your system administrator]

Now, Konsole does open, and I am able to type in commands like apt-get, and at the end of the output, a couple of "406 Error" popped up. When I tried to do apt-get upgrade (in case something got broken or didn't install correctly during the software update), I get a message about /var/something/something being read only. I wish I could give you more info, but I'm typing this in a rush to get out the door to go to work. I would really at least like to get my files off of the /home directory so that I can wipe the installation and start fresh. Any assistance that you folks can provide would be greatly appreciated. And thanks in advance.

-DM, typed from a browser on the Windows side of his dual boot....

PS: Specs are in my signature.

[HalationEffect]

I've come across this sort of thing a few times before in the past, when I had a hard disk drive that was dying. While the system was booting up, the kernel detected that the filesystem was damaged, so it mounted the partition as read-only to prevent further data loss.

Probably the easiest way to get your files from /home to your external drive is to boot from a live install CD or thumb drive and do it from there.

[oshunluvr]

Could be full drive also.

[DarthMedicus]

@ HalationEffect: I had in the back of my mind that the drive may very well be on it's way out (it's on a 4 year-old heavily used laptop), but wanted to see what suggestions the community had first to at least get my important files off of it. As it were, I was able to boot into a live USB and retrieve some of my files. The remainder that could not be retrieved...well, I'll just have to rebuild those forms and images. When I have some free time, I am going to try to do a diagnostic on the drive to see if there are any permanently damaged or bad sectors.

@ oshunluvr: If it were the drive that contained my windows install, I would say yes. However, the drive with Kubuntu on it always remained free of bloat (imagine that...........), and I usually kept little used files and archives on the external drive. The stuff I use for the classes I teach are what I kept in the /home/ directory. Which sucks because I now have to recreate many powerpoint presentations from scratch (although some of my students may leap for joy; the etiology of respiratory syndromes makes not for a gripping lecture.......).

In all, I do appreciate the input, and will mark the thread solved. I will, however, continue to post here on the subject with whatever else I am able to find out (which may help someone else down the line). Again, thank you both. :-)

[DarthMedicus]

So, I tinkered with the (subsequently ruled) broken install, and continued to get similar errors as stated in the OP. Finally, I gave up and wiped the drive clean. I re-installed Kubuntu, and now it runs like a dream. The only extra packages I have added so far are GRUB Customizer, Konversation (got rid of Quassel), Chromium (for the synced bookmarks and google stuff), and I upped Rekonq to 1.0 (which I am liking so far). Once I figure out how to move all of the bookmarks and history for Chromium to rekonq, I'll try to stick with that.

But for now, my system runs smoothly, and you would not have thought there was a problem. I am beginning to wonder if a surge might have corrupted a sector of the disk?

Anywho, time for me to get comfy and watch the Mars probe landing. Thank you all again for the tips and hints you provide to help each other out. I'll keep you folks updated of any changes relating to this thread.

-DM

[DarthMedicus]

So, as promised, an update:

Everything was going fine for a couple of days with my vanilla install. I had shut down and started up a few times with no errors, and life was good (Kubuntu-wise). All of that fun ended on Thursday morning, when I awoke to see that my desktop was...just not the same. The "Kubuntu gear" for my apps menu was gone (but there was text in its place); my taskbar clock was gone, all icons on taskbar replaced by words. Every time I tried to click on something, I kept getting error messages. Finally, I was able to somehow get a reboot going, but after I logged back in there were error messages being thrown left and right (just like the ones listed in my OP). I'm writing off the drive as lost at this point, and will have to live with a live boot until I get a new laptop. :-(

-DM

[GreyGeek]

When my clients asked me how often they should back up my answer was always "How much do you want to re-enter?"

Back up once a month and be prepared to re-enter a month's worth of data. Ditto for bi-weekly, weekly and daily. In commercial settings keeping a real-time mirror image of the data drive(s) was best. For SOHO daily or twice daily was best, usually the latter -- backup during lunch and at the end of the day. When I was consulting and writing software my editor wrote a backup file automatically every five minutes.

Retired now. Backup isn't that important. I back up my KMyMoney data to two different USB sticks after every time I use it. The rest of my data is mirrored on UbuntuOne (25gb) automatically. Last year I switched from Thunderbird to KMail, importing all my old email. When I installed Kubuntu Precise on this new Acer a couple weeks ago I got a pleasant surprise... when I fired up Chromium it loaded all the bookmarks that I had accumulated while running Chromium on my old Acer. It also loaded all my contacts, and Hangout has all my G+ contacts, which includes my family. So, I can fire up Google Hangout to talk with them.

[pauly]

I have had this happen to me twice this month. The computer was completely unusable.Could not open any apps. Same error messages. I have a good system image so my solution was just to restore. I have no idea what caused it but my computer is only one year old with no problem. The windows partition is hardly used but no problems.

Not sure if it was because of an update. One time I clicked on a link from a search that had a youtube link and the computer froze for a couple minutes. Then I couldn't open ant apps.