Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

[Snowhog]

Re: Reading package lists... Error!

@Shee - Thanks for 'correcting' my faux pa on the /dev/hdb vs /dev/hdb1 ! I answered from work. It always amazes me how much of a difference that 'familiar surroundings' make. When I'm here at home, I (tend) to not make those kind of mistakes. :P

[mkeller]

Re: Reading package lists... Error!

Moving the file and then updating worked! I don't know how having a corrupt apt database could interfere with booting (does it do a package check when it turns on?), but that must have been what was the matter, because I can now log in normally, as well as run Adept and aptitude. Thanks for all your help!

And now we'll see whether it's really solved for good . . .

[Snowhog]

Re: Reading package lists... Error!

When you have verified that all is 'good to go,' please go back to your first post in this thread and click the Modify button and put SOLVED in the subject line.

[mkeller]

Re: Reading package lists... Error!

That's what I was thinking about doing, but now it seems to not be really fixed after all. Or perhaps it's some other error . . . Anyway, this is what's wrong now:

My computer locked up completely, so I restarted it, and when it came back up, the screen resolution seemed rather low (I normally use 1280x1060 or something like that, and this appeared to be 1024x768). The System Settings application showed that it was at my normal resolution, though; but changing the resolution didn't really do anything (I have a CRT monitor, so whenever the resolution really changes the screen makes a snapping sound and goes black for a second, and it didn't, this time), though the little "Resolution changed, do you want to accept changes?" box still came up.

When I quit System Settings it said that I'd have to restart my computer for the changes to take effect, which doesn't usually happen when changing resolutions. I have an ATI card, though, and use the fglrx driver, which acts up from time to time, so I'm kind of used to a little good-natured weirdness. Anyway, I restarted like it said - and then it went through the show - the - loading - bar - go - across - the - screen - and - then - let - it - hang performance, like has happened before.

I booted into recovery mode then, and had a look at my Xorg log. The last two lines were:

Fatal server error:
Caught signal 11. Server aborting

And directly above that was a backtrace, which seemed to talk a lot about fglrx.

Since fglrx does act up from time to time, I figured a reinstall of it would be good (it's always helped in the past). So I tried to remove it, and received this error:

(Reading database ... dpkg: error processing xorg-driver-fglrx (--remove):
 files list file for package `dpkg' is missing final newline
Errors were encountered while processing:
 xorg-driver-fglrx
Processing was halted because there were too many errors.
E: Subprocess /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

(I'd got an almost identical error earlier today, while still in KDE, when I tried to install kdenlive from a Konsole window)

So I guess what I need is ideas as to how to get this final newline back into the file, or whatever it is; though some fglrx tips wouldn't hurt, either.

And incidentally, I've found that the internet does not work normally under recovery mode, preventing any apt-get updates or anything like that. Does anyone know how to enable it?

[mkeller]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

From googling around, I've found that my current package error is fairly common, and is often caused by resetting one's computer without shutting down properly (which I was forced to do). I found a solution to the problem here:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/104520.html

But it involves, among other things, reinstalling the offending package, which, for me, is . . . dpkg. The motherpackage. If I reinstall it, there's a good chance I'll break my entire system and never be able to install anything, right?

But what else can I do? Please help!

[dibl]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

I don't think there's a huge risk to opening Adept Manager, finding the package "dpkg", right-clicking it and choosing "reinstall" and then Apply. I would only reinstall that one package, then get out of Adept, open the console, and issue

sudo dpkg --configure -a

If all seems OK, then you could issue

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install

sudo apt-get autoclean

and you should be back to where you were before you pushed the restart button. The next time you think your system is locked up, instead of pushing that button, do it like this and you won't bork it:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3088251.0

8)

[mkeller]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

Thanks dibl, the one problem is that X is not currently working for me, so I can't run Adept. Running a

sudo apt-get --reinstall install dpkg

would do the same thing though, right?

Oh, and I'm running in recovery mode, which I think doesn't set up the network by default - anyway, the internet is not connected, so a reinstall would most likely remove the files and then complain that it can't download them, and leave me stranded. Do you know how to set up the internet/network from a shell?

Oh, and that link you posted is absolutely useful! Thanks!

[dibl]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

The network connections SHOULD be established during the boot process, before you get your CLI prompt in recovery mode. I've never had to test my network connection from the CLI, so let's see what Mr. Google offers on that ....

OK, try this:

ping google.com

If you get a response something like this

PING google.com (64.233.167.99) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from py-in-f99.google.com (64.233.167.99): icmp_seq=1 ttl=245 time=1049 ms

then you'll know you are connected.

[mkeller]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

It didn't.

I got:

ping: unknown host google.com

But, after a quick Google search, I found out what you have to do to enable it, which I'll post here, in case any fellow unfortunates are reading this thread:

Basically all you have to do is add the following two lines of text:

auto <interface>
iface <interface> inet dhcp

to your /etc/network/interfaces (replacing <interface> with the name of yours, eth0 worked for me). If you have a wireless connection, see this thread about how to enable it: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=486409

Anyway, I got the web working, and did a:

cd /var/lib/dpkg
mv info info.bak
mkdir info
apt-get --reinstall install dpkg
mv info/* info.bak/
rm -rf info
mv info.bak info
dpkg --configure -a
apt-get update
apt-get install
apt-get autoclean

And then a:

apt-get install bsdgames

to really make sure things were working, which they are!

Now I've just got to see if X is working now . . .

[dibl]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

Nice job -- my hat is off! 8)

[mkeller]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

Well you'd better put it back on . . .

X still didn't work. Actually, it never even got to it. I booted normally (after a proper "reboot"), and after the loading bar went about halfway across the screen, it showed the boot log, with the last line being:

* Loading manual drivers . . .                                                [ OK ]

The magic SysRq keycombo didn't do anything, so I had to do a hardware reset. I then tried safe mode again, thinking I needed to reinstall xorg-driver-fglrx or some such thing, and it hung at the same point, only, instead of printing the [ OK ] at the end of the line, it showed, on the line below:

[ 44.958010] hdb: Lost interrupt

And it is now reprinting that same line every few minutes, only with a gradually ascending number each time, in place of the 44.958010. What could be causing that? It's evidently something with my hard drive . . .


EDIT: I tried the SysRq thing again, and it worked. I didn't realize that you were supposed to hold down Alt and SysRq while pressing those other keys, until just now. :P

[mkeller]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

And I tried booting into recovery mode again, and it worked fine.

Very Odd.

[mkeller]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

Now when I boot normally, I get:

 * Starting kernel event manager . . .                                                 [ OK ]
 * Loading hardware drivers . . .
udevd-event[3421]: run_program: '/sbin/modprobe/' abnormal exit
                                                                    [fail]
 * Setting system clock
 * Loading kernel modules . . .
 * Loading manual drivers . . .

From reading around on the web, it seems this has something to do with Linux being unable to detect your second hard drive; and appears to be fairly common among people upgrading from Feisty to Gutsy. The thing is, I've been using Gusty fairly uneventfully for a couple months now, with no difficulty, and this just started cropping up now. One solution mentioned is to modify your kernel slightly, to make it detect it better, but this is something I do not want to do!

And recovery mode still works fine. Any suggestions?

[dibl]

Re: Reading package lists... Error! (NOT solved)

Some of those error messages are a little scary.

With recovery mode working, I think I'd try to remove and reinstall the video drivers, and then make sure the correct driver is reflected in xorg.conf. If that doesn't work, I'd personally back up my data and just reinstall the OS, before I'd start compiling kernels -- it's hard to believe that this is a "drive detection" issue. My experience is that hard drives and other drives are either detected and supported, or else nothing at all -- I haven't seen any "borderline" cases.

Two cents' worth -- I know you're not looking forward to 2 days of configuring Linux .... :P