Update Locks Package Handling

[Clay Weber]

On Wednesday, January 12, 2011 12:39:34 AM Goh Lip wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:41:13 +0800, Billie Walsh <bilwalsh at swbell.net>
> 
> wrote:
> > An update a few weeks ago now has my system locked from doing any form
> > of software install or update. I'm not sure how to explain this to well.
> 
> You can remove /var/cache/apt/archives/lock without any problem and try to
> update/upgrade again.
> 
> > When I try to run synaptic I get a message that it can't access the data
> > base because something else is already running.
> 
> Usually that's because the auto updater is currently being run. Wait a few
> minutes and try again.

there is more than one place for a lock file, if you run 
sudo apt-get update or 
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
if there is a so-called stale lock file the error message will give the proper 
filename and path.

clay


> > It tells me to run dpkge configure but that hangs after a couple seconds
> > at configure grub and never finishes. I'm just about to the old Windows
> > standby, Fdisk - Format - Install.
> 
> May not be necessary; could be something simpler like above. And for grub,
> config is best done by "grub-install" or "update-grub". But as I said, may
> not be necessary.
> 
> > The system boots up and runs pretty much normal most of the time.
> > Sometimes when it boots up the Nvidia drives won't load properly but if
> > I boot it a couple times it generally will work
> 
> Check if nvdia settings and xorg-xserver is for the current driver version.
> 
> > ANY ideas are gratefully accepted.
> > 
> > 10.04-64
> > AMD quad core
> > 4gigs
> 
> Regards - Goh Lip