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I've got a DELL n5110 laptop, with intel i3-2330m cpu @ 2.20GHz x 4, 64 bit OS system, ubuntu 14.04 LTS operating system.

The error that comes up is upon start up, and it gives me the option of cancel or send report. After passing that hurdle, I then get an icon in the top of my screen, red circle with white line through it, sat alongside the volume display and other icons. That icon reads:

An error occurred, please run Package Manager from the right click menu or apt-get in a terminal to see what is wrong. The error message was: "Error: BrokenCount > 0". This usually means your installed packages have unmet dependencies.

When I open Software Centre, I get the option of repairing the installed packages, but it usually fails at the last moment, with the comment:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:

linux-image-extra-3.13.0-66-generic: Depends: linux-image-3.13.0-66-generic but it is not installed
linux-image-extra-3.13.0-79-generic: Depends: linux-image-3.13.0-79-generic but it is not installed
linux-image-generic: Depends: linux-image-3.13.0-79-generic but it is not installed

A warning once came up about disabling third party repositories, and I tried doing this via terminal using the command sudo software-properties-gtk, and it took me to the Software Centre, with a list of boxes ticked and some strange long looking clever words which I've never thought to use before in my life.

The update says the following

Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.13.0-79-generic_3.13.0‌​-79.123_amd64.deb /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.13.0-66-generic_3.13.0‌​-66.108_amd64.deb 
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

and these

Unpacking linux-image-3.13.0-66-generic    (3.13.0-66.108) ... 
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.13.0-66-generic_3.13.0‌​-66.108_amd64.deb 
 (--unpack): cannot copy extracted data for './boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-66-generic' to '/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-66-generic.dpkg-new': 
failed to write (No space left on device) No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error 
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  • What happens when you run sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install -f in a terminal? Add the complete output to your question.
    – muru
    Mar 12, 2016 at 17:01
  • Have a look on this: askubuntu.com/questions/707333/… Mar 13, 2016 at 7:39
  • I have the lists, but I can't seem to add them into the list here, as there are too many characters. How do I add them to the question?
    – SimpleSim
    Mar 13, 2016 at 19:46
  • the update says the following...
    – SimpleSim
    Mar 13, 2016 at 19:47
  • ...nope, the list is also too long!...
    – SimpleSim
    Mar 13, 2016 at 19:49

1 Answer 1

0

I can't help with the strange long looking clever words, as you don't list them. But, from what I can see, the system is trying to install some linux-image-extra packages that depend on some linux-image-generic packages already being installed.

Certain packages depend on other packages in order to work, and apt-get does a very good job at managing this and making sure, when you install a package, that all other required packages are installed at the same time. However, maybe another method has been used to install the linux-image stuff or maybe apt-get has stumbled on this occasion. It is rare, but I guess it is possible.

I pretty much echo what muru says.

Open a terminal and update your local repository cache.

sudo apt-get update

Now try upgrading your installed packages.

sudo apt-get upgrade

Before the upgrade begins, and you are prompted with a "y/n" to proceed, you will see a line showing you how many packages are being upgraded and how many are not being upgraded.

If you have packages that are not being upgraded, they will be listed. Are the linux-image-generic files in that list ?

There are now two ways to proceed. You can either do a system upgrade, which is the next step up to the package upgrade

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Or you can install the missing dependencies manually.

sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.13.0-66-generic
sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.13.0-79-generic

I would probably do the system upgrade, as I do that regularly anyway and have had no issues. However, I don't know the exact setup of your system so you might not want to go down that route.

To see what apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade do, check out this link.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AptGet/Howto

Finally, muru also gives you the command for fixing missing dependencies.

sudo apt-get install -f

I don't actually use this option a great deal, but I have in the past and it has indeed installed missing dependencies.

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  • sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.13.0-66-generic sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.13.0-79-generic... i tried these, and the response came back... You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these: The following packages have unmet dependencies. linux-image-extra-3.13.0-79-generic : Depends: linux-image-3.13.0-79-generic but it is not going to be installed linux-image-generic : Depends: linux-image-3.13.0-79-generic but it is not going to be installed E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
    – SimpleSim
    Mar 13, 2016 at 19:53
  • OK. Type sudo apt-get -f install.
    – hatterman
    Mar 14, 2016 at 4:46

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