<Solved> Update has gone astray--- or something

[besonian]

Katie - this may or may not help, but I offer it to you anyway. I had enormous problems with the update some weeks back. And without going into all the hoops I had to jump through - unsuccessfully - I was forced in the end, and through glitches that have occurred since then, to think that maybe PCLOS is not totally happy with my motherboard. It was new (MSI K9VGM-V Chipset VIA K8M890)  a year ago and it was around that time that various problems started - well before the big update - none of them serious except for the onboard sound which just would not work. After about 15 seconds it would get itself into a loop and simply repeat over and over again the same three notes! And I could never stop it unless I re-booted. But the big update put the tin hat on things for me and I had finally to give it up. However - I found a way around it. First - and this assumes you have a separate /home partition - I did a re-install of 2009 from disk. Thereafter I simply updated via Synaptic only those programs I needed and which were not in the installation by default. Everything then worked fine. (I'm wary however of updating or installing other programs - I do it from time to time but watch out in case a dependency or something like that gets involved which might trigger another collapse. Hasn't done so far.  )

Or at least it worked fine until I decided, a week or so back, that maybe I'd risk doing the full update now. I tried it on three other machines via the command line (apt-get dist-upgrade)  and on all three it worked perfectly. Then I tried it on this machine with the MSI board. The sound fell over again, the whole system froze, the only way I knew out of it was the reset button - result was the file system was screwed and I had to re-install. However - I followed the procedure I've outlined above and all is now stable and back to normal again.

I have no idea for certain if it is the motherboard, but I've had no problem at all with upgrading the other machines, one of which is a Toshiba laptop. So if you go on trying stuff and still get nowhere, perhaps you should give this a go. At least - if it works for you - you then have a completely stable, working system with your main programs updated.

Good luck with it somehow anyway.

[katie]

Is there enough disk space?
Just a thought.  

This particular computer is very minimal-- Dell Optiplex GX-110, PIII, w/256 megRam.  HD is partitioned with 5.3 Gig for Win2000Pro, 5.3 & 3.3  Gig for PCLinuxOS.  I thought that might be the problem, but nothing seems even close to full.

Do you have  Leave all downloaded packages in the cache set by any chance??
Synaptic, Preferences, Files, Temporary Files

I just checked that and it is no set to leave downloaded packages in cache-- but thanks for asking

Also, I tried using the Synaptic Repair Utility and it looked promising all the way until it asked me to select a repo--- apparently I selected a bad one from the list and it stopped.  It was getting late, so I gave up until today.  In the meanwhile several of you have responded-- thank you very much--- I'll try everything---  However, what repos are good currently from the list I will have to choose from in Synaptic Recovery Tool???

Reason I ask is that I have always used the paid repo--- and the only other choice in my other installation is ibiblio (which I know we are not supposed to use)-- so, if I knew which ones were good in the list I will have to choose from, that will save me doing it all over again by trial and error (I live in the Great Lakes area of the US).

If I have to start all over again, I can do that-- as this is not my primary PClos install (that one is updating perfectly as of this morning).

Thanks to everyone for your patience and help
katie

[caudell]

3.3  Gig for PCLinuxOS

This is a problem.  /tmp use part of this partition and If this includes you /home then your partition is too small.  This could be the main problem.

[katie]

3.3  Gig for PCLinuxOS

This is a problem.  /tmp use part of this partition and If this includes you /home then your partition is too small.  This could be the main problem.

I just received a duplicate computer and an extra hd-- I think I will try installing to that and see if that solves the problem.  If it does, I will come back to apologize for taking so much time-- and re-do this install in a similar fashion (at least I am learning in the process- and I don't have a lot of data on this one to back up)

Thank you to everyone for your patience and wisdom-- I'll mark this [solved] for now and either start new thread or edit this poste if new information.
katie

[marian]

We all learn till the end of our days  

[katie]

3.3  Gig for PCLinuxOS

This is a problem.  /tmp use part of this partition and If this includes you /home then your partition is too small.  This could be the main problem.

I just received a duplicate computer and an extra hd-- I think I will try installing to that and see if that solves the problem.  If it does, I will come back to apologize for taking so much time--
katie

Finally had a few minutes to play-- upgraded the GX110 to 512 MegRam and 20 Gig HD - The install went flawlessly (after I remembered to give it the "noscsi" command)-- and the update went flawlessly (while I slept).

Unfortunately that's about all I can do to this box (unless I find a larger HD- no room for a 2nd HD)-- but it is pretty peppy should serve me well.

By dumping the other HD I was not able to prove that was the problem (size of partition)-- but it seems so logical-- and thanks to all who took the time to walk with me through the diagnosis.

katie

[gilado]

Hi

The Synaptic repair utility is in the same place as the Synaptic
program (menu-wise it is just below it) I think the path is
PC->configuration (?) -> packages -> Synaptic Repair.

I had the same issue with (in my case 23) packages but then
after downloading and getting the error from the utility
I went into Synaptic and started applying, applying, tried to
download VLC, cancelled, apply, BINGO!!! It started installing the updates.

Fred

This post saved the day.


My update would not go through displaying the dreadful "APT system reports: E: Ordering failed for 15 packages"

After reading this post I marked VLC for removal, clicked apply and lo and behold it worked!

Thanks, Fred!