First update after fresk Kubuntu install hangs because of dpkg - now what?

Question

I installed a clean Kubuntu 11.10 64bit on a Dell Latitude E6500. Rebooted after install, ran the update manager Muon first thing, said apply all upgrades, and then at 57% ("Running dpkg") the progress bar freezes and that's it.

No external drive attached, plenty of space on the hard drive, and this is the third clean install attempt. (On that same computer, Ubuntu 11.10 and Mint 11 worked just fine). Any ideas?

Answer 1

I tried the sudo dpkg --configure -a approach listed above and it did not help. I have also tried it on a virtual machine which wont even run after the update. However, I have found another approach which did work at least on Vmware (haven't tested on a real machine yet)

From a fresh install of Kubuntu 11.10 with no updates.

Open a terminal (using Ctrl+Alt+T to save some time) and install aptitude.

sudo apt-get install aptitude
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude safe-upgrade

It takes a long time to update but it doesn't hang during the process.

I also tried the whole thing with synaptic and it also ran fine afterwords.

One thing to note is that after using either approach the Software Center aka muon-installer will no longer run due to some file ownership issues.

Answer 2

Just to add, I believe what you saw was reported on this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kde-workspace/+bug/855793 .

In the near-future, I would recomend using synaptic/apt-get/aptitude for doing upgrades.

Answer 3

I had the same problem. I opened a terminal window and did the following:

ps -e | grep muon

This identified the process. Then (number identifed above):

sudo kill ####

I then rebooted. After which:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

I then did:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -f

now everything is fine.