View Full Version : [ubuntu] Update Manager fails: input/output error
BKossmann
March 11th, 2011, 11:49 PM
Greetings, Linux gurus:
I am running 10.04 Lucid and have had no problems with executing Update Manager until just a few days ago. Now, when I run UM it returns the error dialog that I have attached to this message. (Yes, I have run 'sudo apt-get clean all'.)
I have listed the contents of sources.list in the attached text file, as requested in a similar thread.
Any suggestions are welcome; in spite of having used Linux for a number of years I have yet to progress much beyond the 'newbie' stage.
Thank you!
Bill
matt_symes
March 12th, 2011, 12:10 AM
Hi
I just had a look through your sources.list file and i could find noting wrong with it so i think the problem might be with the dpkg status file and we can test that.
Make sure Synaptic, Update manager and software center is closed. Open a terminal and type
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.bak
Enter your password. It will not be echoed to the screen.
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo apt-get update
See how that goes.
Kind regards
BKossmann
March 12th, 2011, 12:16 AM
Hi Matt,
Thanks but that didn't solve the problem (see attached screen shot of the terminal).
Bill
matt_symes
March 12th, 2011, 12:23 AM
Hi
Quick test. Open a terminal and type
dpkg -l
That's a small L above. Post back the results if failure. Respond if good.
Kind regards
matt_symes
March 12th, 2011, 01:22 AM
Hi
It's getting a bit late here so i will go with my hunch.
Open a termminal and type
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/available /var/lib/dpkg/available.bak
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available
sudo apt-get update
Any luck ?
Kind regards
BKossmann
March 12th, 2011, 10:04 PM
Hi again,
Sorry for the tardy response, I thought it appropriate to take my long-suffering wife to dinner last night.
At any rate, I've run the commands as you suggested: first I ran dpkg -l and redirected the output to text (output too large to attach here). I tried apt-get update and as before, it got to the part where it said, "Reading package lists... 1%" and then it seems to hang up, and after a while it returns the error message you see in the file.
I then moved the "available" files as you suggested and retried without success (results attached).
Is there a way to rebuild the package list? Do I need to reinstall the Update Manager?
Regards,
Bill
codejammer
March 13th, 2011, 12:21 AM
Did you manage to fix your problem? I have exactly the same issue. Running apt-get update thrashes the disk for a while and then throws a "Bus Error". I have tried all of the suggestions above with no success.
BKossmann
March 13th, 2011, 12:53 AM
No, unfortunately I'm still unable to use Update Manager, either from the command line or via the desktop menu. I don't get the bus error you mention, though I have noticed that once in a while my system slows right down, as if there were a process that's hogging all the resources - unfortunately it's a Catch-22 because I can't even start System Monitor to see what's going on.
Maybe I'll try Computer Janitor out of desperation.
BKossmann
March 13th, 2011, 02:01 AM
Well, this is interesting: I started the Disk Utility and it tells me that there are two bad sectors (see attached screen shot). Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't like coincidences.
I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't reformat my hard drive and reinstall Lucid from scratch.
Also, when I did backups today I noticed the following message:
tar /var/lib/apt/lists/ca.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_lists_lucid_main_bina ry-i386_Packages: File shrank by 610910 bytes; padding with zeros
Not sure if that means anything or not.
codejammer
March 13th, 2011, 11:14 AM
I thought that it might be a disk problem so I tried running fsck on the boot drive (When booted using a live CD) but it didn't show any problems. I'll try the disk utility and see if I get a simillar result.
I also tried backing up the Dpkg directory but it failed as well. I have one file that I can't even open with vi. I moved it out of the dpkg directory but it made no difference.
My system is almost completely unusable so I'm going to rebuild it today...
codejammer
March 13th, 2011, 11:27 AM
Finally got the Disk Utility to run. I've got simillar results except I have 766 pending and 256 reallocated sectors, this is probably why mine is much worse than yours. Definately going for a rebuild.
BKossmann
March 13th, 2011, 10:36 PM
Unless Matt pulls a rabbit out of a hat I'm leaning towards a total reinstall as well.
Bill
codejammer
March 14th, 2011, 11:28 PM
Tried the rebuild but things got worse. I think that I have a failing disk. It's limping along but had to add a ROOTDELAY=120 to get it to boot and when I'm logged in the system periodically goes slow. When I checked the Disk Utility again I now have over 1000 bad sectors :( I think I need a new disk!
matt_symes
March 16th, 2011, 12:41 PM
Hi
Sounds like it might be a hardware issue. As much as i hate to say it i would reinstall and see if the problem persists.
You could try to run fsck from the live CD as a last resort.
Kind regards
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