Lost Power during an update

[hussman65]

Ok...I lost power while updates were in progress. Now I can't update anything. Can't update or reinstall the update Manager. Also can install ANY software. I am just about ready to do a fresh clean install....but really hate to do that.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!

System: Kernel: 5.4.0-48-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7
wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

Example of the errors, I get similar errors with any/all install or update:

$ apt reinstall mintupdate
[sudo] password for chris:
The following packages will be REINSTALLED:
mintupdate
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 601 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/615 kB of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used.
dpkg-deb: error: tar subprocess was killed by signal (Bus error)
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/mintupdate_5.7.8_all.deb (--unpack):
dpkg-deb --control subprocess returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/mintupdate_5.7.8_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[sleeper12]

Try:

Code: Select all

 sudo dpkg --configure -a 

[hussman65]

Try:

Code: Select all

 sudo dpkg --configure -a 

Thanks for your reply and suggestion.
I have tried that several time and once more on your suggestion....still no luck.

Here are the errors trying to update the update manager, with its own "apply the update" button:

dpkg-deb: error: tar subprocess was killed by signal (Bus error)
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/mint-upgrade-info_1.1.9_all.deb (--unpack):
dpkg-deb --control subprocess returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/mint-upgrade-info_1.1.9_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:

[sleeper12]

Maybe:

Code: Select all

 sudo apt-get install -f 

[hussman65]

Maybe:

Code: Select all

 sudo apt-get install -f 

Thanks
Still didn't work, same error code as above, still can't install any software.

[sleeper12]

Can you completely remove mintupdate in Synaptic, then reinstall it there? That's all I can think of other than maybe Timeshift.

[hussman65]

Can you completely remove mintupdate in Synaptic, then reinstall it there? That's all I can think of other than maybe Timeshift.

Well....I've been afraid to uninstall anything for fear of not being able to reinstall it.
But at this point....it doesn't mater much...nothing is working to correct this problem and I'm at the point to do a new clean install anyway.
I'll try your suggestion and let you know.

Thanks

[cliffcoggin]

If you want to avoid such problems in future consider getting a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), which is essentially a battery powered supply. They are not cheap but very worthwhile in some situations.

[hussman65]

If you want to avoid such problems in future consider getting a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), which is essentially a battery powered supply. They are not cheap but very worthwhile in some situations.

Thanks....I do have one (several in fact), my home is what one would call a smart home. I am an advanced tinkerer.
This heading was the simplest way I could describe what happened. I had a Samsung 8GB memory stick go bad while I was updating (in 30 + years of building computer, it's never happened) well....my machine freaked out and was frozen, the only thing I could do was a force shutdown (that's why I called it lost power). I replaced the RAM and it works fine...other than can't update.

Thanks for your suggestions, I threw in the towel and did a clean install....all it well now