/var/lib/dpkg/available-old is corrupted

[FreshP]

Hi,
i am new to ubuntu forums and ubuntu in general.

Whenever i try to install a package i get the following error


dpkg: failed to link `/var/lib/dpkg/available' to `/var/lib/dpkg/available-old' for backup of available info: Input/output error
I went to this directory did ls -la and i get


-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2009-11-27 14:42 available-new
-????????? ? ? ? ? ? available-old
among other results.

I dont know what caused this problem, it happened about a week ago. Now whenver install something i get an error and the installation is not completed.
Any help?

[sisco311]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

available-old is a backup file and it seems that it's corrupted. Remane/Remove it an see if the error persists:

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available-old-bad
sudo apt-get update

[FreshP]

Thanks for answering.
I already tried to move it or delete it, i cant



mv: cannot stat `/var/lib/dpkg/available-old': Input/output error

Actually i cant do anything with this file, i tried cat, rm, mv, it doesnt even show using gnome, only from terminal it is shown.

[sisco311]

Thanks for answering.
I already tried to move it or delete it, i cant



mv: cannot stat `/var/lib/dpkg/available-old': Input/output error

Actually i cant do anything with this file, i tried cat, rm, mv, it doesnt even show using gnome, only from terminal it is shown.

Check the partition for errors:

sudo tune2fs -C 40 /dev/sdXY
and reboot. (NOTE: that's an uppercase c in the command option)

replace /dev/sdXY with the actual partition.

run

mountin a terminal to get a list of mounted devices.

i.e. my root ("/") partition is /dev/sda1:

mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro)
...

[FreshP]

I should mention that i am running ubuntu9.10 from a usb so when i do mount i get



aufs on / type aufs (rw)
.......


so i am not sure what to use to check for tune2fs

[FreshP]

I guess I will have to reinstall? No solution yet

[FreshP]

I did reinstall Ubuntu finally, i just hope it doesn't happen again. Thanks to everyone who answered.