Need to fix unmet dependencies

[Rodnox]

Ive got a Problem, that I'm working on for quite a while.

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (LTS till 2013) shows that red circle with a white stripe in my taskbar. When i hover over it, it tells me that I have unmet dependencies.

Now I've tried to clean up (sudp apt-get clean && autoclean), I've tried

sudo apt-get install htop
[sudo] password for rodnox:
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Read error - read (5: Input/output error)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
rodnoxAThawk:~$


I've tried quite a few other things, but won't get anywhere.

Now, the positive thing is, there doesn't seem anything wrong with the system, cause it works like a charm.

Except, that after every boot, I have to wait for about 3 minutes. The system freezes completely, the ram LED ist constantly on and nothing would respond on click.

But after that ... fine.

Any suggestions?


If you're wondering, why I don't just upgrade or make a fresh install: I thaught, sticking to the LTS would cause less problems and I've already tried the UNITY based new releases and I have to accept, that they just require more RAM, than I can offer.

[jayd512]

Hi, Rodnox! Welcome aboard!

Could you post the output of
:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list

[Rodnox]

Sure I can, there you go:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# See htp://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid universe
deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu 
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to 
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in 
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid multiverse
deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb htp://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src htp://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb htp://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner
deb-src htp://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner

deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security main restricted
deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security universe
deb htp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security multiverse
rodnoxAThawk:~$

All standart, nothing changed by me.

(I had to change the URLs to htp instead of double tt, cause otherwise I get this Error Message from the Forumsoftware: You are only allowed to post URLs (http, ftp, @) to other sites after you have made 15 posts or more.)

[Rodnox]

I just hat to learn, that my synaptic package manager won't start anymore. When I click the symbol (or start it from command line) I get the following Error Message

E: Read Error - read (5: input/output error)
E: Package list or status file could not be parsed or opened.
E: _cache->()failed, please report

[jayd512]

I remember having a similar issue on Lucid.
I can't seem to find the article that helped me fix it, but here's what worked for me (and if it don't work, it's easy to revert back )

cd /etc/apt
sudo mv sources.list sources.list.bak
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Enter the following lines:

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted universe multiverse 

###### Ubuntu Update Repos
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security main restricted universe multiverse 
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates main restricted universe multiverse 
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-proposed main restricted universe multiverse 
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse

Save the file, and run sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade.

See if that works.

[Rodnox]

Wow, it did indeed remove and replace a lot. Including the red symbol to disappear. BUT: I've seen that symbol disappear a hundred times in the last two weeks and every time i restart the system, it's just back.

So I'll tell you in approximately 10 min's, if this was successful.

If I'm not back in 30 mins, the replaced stuff did not work and the system is ****ed up ....

[jayd512]

If that doesn't fix it, we can revert back to the original config:

cd /etc/apt
sudo mv sources.list.bak sources.list

[Rodnox]

Now, indeed, the red symbol (doesanybody know the "Name" of it?) is gone for good.

Thanks for that so far.

But when I start Synaptic from command line now, the system goes straight to full occupy and the RAM LED is constantly on. No response on any clicks.

After about 3 Minutes the Terminal gives me the following output:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index", line 699, in <module>
    res = updateIndex(dbpath, addons, progress)
  File "/usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index", line 343, in updateIndex
    unchanged, outdated, obsolete = compareCacheToDb(cache, db, progress)
  File "/usr/sbin/update-apt-xapian-index", line 315, in compareCacheToDb
    for (idx, m) in enumerate(db.postlist("")):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/xapian.py", line 5216, in next
    return PostingItem(self)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/xapian.py", line 5143, in __init__
    self.doclength = iter._iter.get_doclength()
xapian.DatabaseError: Error reading block 1042: Input/output error
rodnoxAThawk:~$

Now, I know I have a few bad sectors on my HDD. Might that be the Problem? How do I isolate them to not beeing used? Or maybe fix them? A new HDD is not in the budget.

[jayd512]

Well, my other suspicion for that error was a bad sector somewhere.
Unfortunately, I don't really have any first-hand experience in dealing with that.

Reading the man page for e2fsck makes me think that this might work:
Boot to a LiveCD such as a Ubuntu disc or Parted Magic.
From a terminal, do:

e2fsck -fpyC 0 /dev/sda

Warning!
This will take quite a long time to complete. More importantly, it could cause data loss on your drive!
So while it might actually repair the issue of the bad sectors, do NOT do this unless you have back-ups of your important data!

[vich00ss]

you can check it in graphical mode. go to administrative menu>Disk Utility. And see the status of the disk. If there is any bad sector the status message should be "Disk is Unhealthy". There you will get the option to check all of your hard Disk partitions. Better go for that.