LMDE Update issues, asking for advice

[sprout know]

hi folks.

new to the forum. although ive been dabbling in linux for about 2 years quite casually. im running mint debian xfce on an acer timeline laptop.

the othr day i noticed that my update icon hadnt peompted me for some time. i wss in a hurry and killing a couple minutes. i ran update, and the only thing it updated was the update package. it then showed, after being updated that there were nearly 2000 updates. in my haste i just told it to update, which i now realize was a bad idea.

so when i reboot i have no gui. no network. ive run xwindows and got into xfce but its stripped down, no sertings held, nothjng works. the big thing is network. the network applet in the systray is not there. running network tools returns nothing.

so my first question is....what in a very genral sjmple way, has happened?

and how do i add the startup sxript to run xwindows on boot?

and how do i get my network applet back?

apolohies for this post. im typing on my android phone, and im apparently having some keyboard issues on this contraption as well...

[xenopeek]

Moved here by moderator

Hopefully the LMDE users here can help sort this out for you, it sounds like an update pack was installed and somehow there is now an issue with hardware or configuration.

[sprout know]

Hi all,

New to the forum, but I've been dabbling in linux for almost 3 years now, and have been running it as my only OS for most of that time.

I'm running LXDE 12, on an ACER Timeline laptop, 4810T. XFCE is my environment.

So I installed LXDE early in the year, and its been great. I was a little weary of doing the debian thing being more or less a noob, but I felt comfortable enough to manage it. I'd been doing updates regularly, and all was well. Then life got busy. The other day I noticed the updater had been on low alert for a while, not sure how long, as I say, life has been crazy. The only update was the updater itself. So it updated, and then as I was rushing out the house I noticed that it now registered a whole bunch more updates. In my haste, I just told it to download them all. Which I obviously now regret.

At present most of the important applications do not work, including firefox. I have no network connection. I have tried to open network diagnostics and networking tools and I get no response. If I can get internet, then troubleshooting becomes easier. As of now I'm typing on my girlfriend's computer, but she works on this thing so I don't have that many opportunities to use it.

So can anybody give me advice?

Is now a good time to upgrade to 13 while its all gone to hell anyways?
Or should I stick it out, how bad is it?

Life is hectic right now, and I need my system working to keep it all in check.

Thanks

[sprout know]

Thanks Vincent,

I had connectivity issues when I made this post from my phone. I actually was unawares until just now that it even made it online, as I never hit submit.

I did just make another post from a proper computer and a proper keyboard.

Here's the link...viewtopic.php?f=198&t=104845

And I'm just off to try and get a little bit more specific info to add to that post, which is a very general statement of my problem.

Thanks.

[sprout know]

Bump...and some more details.

So when I first started up after the update, I had no GUI, just straight to terminal. That was my first inkling that something was up.

So I started xwindows and discovered that even in the GUI things aren't quite right. I have been unable to get any networking tools or applets up at all. I went through this a little over a year ago with Debian, and had to go find the systray applet for wireless. But I can't remember what the name of that package is.

Can anybody fill me in on the name of that wireless network management applet is?

I have managed to piece much of my system back together. Firefox is working, but I can't get a network up. Libreoffice is working. Most applications work. My files are all still available. The software manager works.

The big deal is networking. What is the name of the applet that I need to manage wireless?

And how do I add a script to get my GUI to come up on startup?

Once those two issues are tackled I'm pretty much back in the driver's seat.

[zerozero]

let's see what we can do:
the pkg you need for networking is network-manager-gnome, tho i guess that without net you won't be able to get it.
try this first

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get -f install

and after

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

let us know what the errors are

[in the meantime i'm going to merge both topics]

[sprout know]

So...first thanks for the prompt response and cleaning up my messy double post zero.

I ran apt-get -f install

received error....E: dpkg was interrupted run dpkg --configure - a to fix

So I did.

When I googled this --configure -a line it seemed to usually be associated with an incomplete upgrade/update. And being that those new packages are installed, maybe that last upgrade didn't complete?

So I then ran apt-get -f install again, and it worked out okay. 44 upgraded, 24 newly installed, 2 removed and 728 to stay. Which is further evidence that maybe that last upgrade didn't complete. As it was day before yesterday, and would there be 44 upgrades and 24 new installs over 2 days?

Everything seemed to connect just fine, I had to answer NO to questions of whether or not to install new config files. Being the state I'm in I stayed safe and kept the currently installed versions. Completed.

Then I ran the Dist-upgrade...720 to be upgraded, 153 newly installed, 8 to remove and 3 to stay.

But apt is unable to resolve any of the mint servers at debian.linuxmint.com
so....reboot...

Nice. I get xwindows coming up for login. I have my applet for wireless back, and my keyboard even works. Thanks a million.

Running the dist-upgrade now, and alls well...seems to be going smooth.

I just have one question. Something that bothers me a bit is that whenever I look at a linux forum post, its ALWAYS a noob asking a simple question, and then an experienced user replies and just spews out a bunch of code to sudo into the term, with no explaination. I like to have backstories so I understand what happens and hopefully avoid future repeats.

So zerozero, can you give me a very quick and simple explaination of what you think happened and why I ran apt-get -f and dist-upgrade? And maybe also what that dpkg config -a line was all about? If you would be so kind?

And...despite my paranoia of having an upgrade make my system unusable (as this happened to me with debian before) I still managed to have this happen. What I'd like to do is be able to back up my system to be able to revert. Back in my ole windows days I got sick of reinstalls, I was doing a lot of audio work and had to have a clean, reliable and functioning system (something windows has trouble with), so I found norton ghost and made a backup of my perfect running system to be able to revert to. Can I do something like this in linux? I've been wondering this for a while. There must be a way to take a snapshot of all installed packages and system settings and be able to revert? Right? Then I could be fearless and just revert if something like this happens. Could you point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

[zerozero]

hi,
i'm really glad you got yourself out of that mess very good!

- about the "why this happened?" let's see:
you were prompted to install UP4 http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1949 and somehow, during the process, something broke, a package failed to install. that's why when you rebooted parts of the GUI was missing, network-manager wasn't there, FF wasn't working << because some of the pkgs and lib were updated but others that are dependents on them were still the old version.

both those 2 commands -f install and --configure -a will resume the upgrade process trying to install (with a force flag in the first situation) some missing pkgs.

usually this allows us to go over the oops and carry on the dist-upgrade normally to finish the rest.

it's not something new but in your situation it was made worst because 1) you did a huge update in a hurry; 2) you relied in a GUI to do it (and GUI's usually hide the most relevant information from the user)
this is not a critic (oh boy how many times i did the same) but take it as a learning curve

- as for the last question (backups) http://clonezilla.org/ might very well be what you are looking for. it's not very intuitive at first, probably better google a couple howto's but it's powerful)