Theshank
September 22nd, 2013, 09:06 AM
I've seen posts of similar troubles, but none of the solutions there have worked for me, But if you read down to the bottom I did find a somewhat workaround while typing this.
Whenever i try to install new software or use the update manager. I get the following: (truncated by me)
(Reading database ... 75%%
(Reading database ... 80%%
(Reading database ... 85%%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
reading files list for package 'gnome-panel': Input/output error
Error in function:
SystemError: E:Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
Tried putting an old /var/lib/dpkg/status from /var/backups. Even the oldest made no difference. Seems that's not the problem, so I put the original back.
tried:
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/backups$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
[sudo] password for h:
no output at all from that. Just a new prompt.
So I tried renaming the package file, to at least get a -different- error.
This on the assumption the “files list” is in there. Wrong.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo mv gnome-panel_1%3a3.4.1-0ubuntu1.2_amd64.deb gpaneltemp
[sudo] password for h:
Then tried this one:
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get update
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release.gpg
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release.gpg
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports Release.gpg [198 B]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main Sources
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports Release [49.6 kB]
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe TranslationIndex
Get:3 http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg [72 B]
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main Translation-en
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe Translation-en
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse Sources
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe TranslationIndex
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main Sources [3,452 B]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe Sources [35.5 kB]
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main i386 Packages
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main TranslationIndex
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse Sources [5,311 B]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main amd64 Packages [2,818 B]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted amd64 Packages [14 B]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe amd64 Packages [36.5 kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse amd64 Packages [5,206 B]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main i386 Packages [2,825 B]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe i386 Packages [36.3 kB]
Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse i386 Packages [5,178 B]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe Translation-en
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en
Fetched 183 kB in 1s (95.1 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
-I- don't see anything abnormal there.
Tried:
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
apt apt-transport-https apt-utils apt-xapian-index firefox firefox-globalmenu firefox-locale-en flashplugin-installer gir1.2-polkit-1.0 hplip hplip-data
isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common jockey-common jockey-gtk language-selector-common language-selector-gnome libapt-inst1.4 libapt-pkg4.12 libcurl3
libcurl3-gnutls libcurl3-nss libhpmud0 libpolkit-agent-1-0 libpolkit-backend-1-0 libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libsane-hpaio libsmbclient libsyncdaemon-1.0-1
libwbclient0 libx11-6 libx11-data libx11-xcb1 policykit-1 printer-driver-hpcups printer-driver-hpijs printer-driver-postscript-hp python-httplib2
python-software-properties python-ubuntuone-client rtkit samba-common samba-common-bin sessioninstaller smbclient software-properties-common
software-properties-gtk tzdata tzdata-java ubuntu-system-service ubuntuone-client usb-creator-common usb-creator-gtk
53 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/66.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 1,674 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Extracting templates from packages: 100%
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 85%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
reading files list for package 'gnome-panel': Input/output error
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
Gee, the above is familiar.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-3.2.0-29 linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic nvidia-settings
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 53 not upgraded.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-3.2.0-29 linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic nvidia-settings
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 53 not upgraded.
tried what it suggested just for kicks.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
linux-headers-3.2.0-29 linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic nvidia-settings
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 53 not upgraded.
After this operation, 67.5 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 85%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
reading files list for package 'gnome-panel': Input/output error
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
I think I could type that error message from memory by now.
I found the list file for gnome-panel and renamed it, so dpkg or apt can't find it.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/lib/dpkg/info$ sudo mv gnome-panel.list gplisttemp
Now software installs and updates at least work. dpkg warns about the missing list file, but goes on.
Any suggestions to get it to update gnome-panel and quit complaining?
Whenever i try to install new software or use the update manager. I get the following: (truncated by me)
(Reading database ... 75%%
(Reading database ... 80%%
(Reading database ... 85%%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
reading files list for package 'gnome-panel': Input/output error
Error in function:
SystemError: E:Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
Tried putting an old /var/lib/dpkg/status from /var/backups. Even the oldest made no difference. Seems that's not the problem, so I put the original back.
tried:
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/backups$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
[sudo] password for h:
no output at all from that. Just a new prompt.
So I tried renaming the package file, to at least get a -different- error.
This on the assumption the “files list” is in there. Wrong.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo mv gnome-panel_1%3a3.4.1-0ubuntu1.2_amd64.deb gpaneltemp
[sudo] password for h:
Then tried this one:
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get update
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release.gpg
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release.gpg
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports Release.gpg [198 B]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main Sources
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports Release [49.6 kB]
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe TranslationIndex
Get:3 http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg [72 B]
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/main Translation-en
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security/universe Translation-en
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise Release
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse Sources
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse i386 Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe TranslationIndex
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main Sources [3,452 B]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted Sources [14 B]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe Sources [35.5 kB]
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main i386 Packages
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main TranslationIndex
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse Sources [5,311 B]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main amd64 Packages [2,818 B]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted amd64 Packages [14 B]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe amd64 Packages [36.5 kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse amd64 Packages [5,206 B]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main i386 Packages [2,825 B]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted i386 Packages [14 B]
Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe i386 Packages [36.3 kB]
Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse i386 Packages [5,178 B]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe TranslationIndex
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise/universe Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates/universe Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/main Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/multiverse Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/restricted Translation-en
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports/universe Translation-en
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com precise/main Translation-en
Fetched 183 kB in 1s (95.1 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
-I- don't see anything abnormal there.
Tried:
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
apt apt-transport-https apt-utils apt-xapian-index firefox firefox-globalmenu firefox-locale-en flashplugin-installer gir1.2-polkit-1.0 hplip hplip-data
isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common jockey-common jockey-gtk language-selector-common language-selector-gnome libapt-inst1.4 libapt-pkg4.12 libcurl3
libcurl3-gnutls libcurl3-nss libhpmud0 libpolkit-agent-1-0 libpolkit-backend-1-0 libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libsane-hpaio libsmbclient libsyncdaemon-1.0-1
libwbclient0 libx11-6 libx11-data libx11-xcb1 policykit-1 printer-driver-hpcups printer-driver-hpijs printer-driver-postscript-hp python-httplib2
python-software-properties python-ubuntuone-client rtkit samba-common samba-common-bin sessioninstaller smbclient software-properties-common
software-properties-gtk tzdata tzdata-java ubuntu-system-service ubuntuone-client usb-creator-common usb-creator-gtk
53 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/66.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 1,674 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Extracting templates from packages: 100%
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 85%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
reading files list for package 'gnome-panel': Input/output error
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
Gee, the above is familiar.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-3.2.0-29 linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic nvidia-settings
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 53 not upgraded.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-3.2.0-29 linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic nvidia-settings
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 53 not upgraded.
tried what it suggested just for kicks.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/cache/apt/archives$ sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
linux-headers-3.2.0-29 linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic nvidia-settings
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 53 not upgraded.
After this operation, 67.5 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 85%dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
reading files list for package 'gnome-panel': Input/output error
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
I think I could type that error message from memory by now.
I found the list file for gnome-panel and renamed it, so dpkg or apt can't find it.
h@h-System-Product-Name:/var/lib/dpkg/info$ sudo mv gnome-panel.list gplisttemp
Now software installs and updates at least work. dpkg warns about the missing list file, but goes on.
Any suggestions to get it to update gnome-panel and quit complaining?