Software updater no longer functional

[MR ZenWiz]

On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 12:52 PM, Tom H <tomh0665 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 3:03 PM, Nils Kassube <kassube at gmx.net> wrote:
>> Liam Proven wrote:
>>>
>>> sudo touch /forcefsck
>>> sudo shutdown -r now
>>>
>>> Force a full filesystem check and repair then reboot
>>
>> This procedure is no longer working for 16.04. Instead append
>>
>> forcefsck
>>
>> to the kernel command line of the grub menu.
>
> Adding "forcefsck" to the cmdline is an initramfs-tools specific variable.
>
> The equivalent generic systemd variable is "fsck.mode=force".
>
> Theres also "fsckfix" (initramfs-tools) and "fsck.repair=yes"
> (systemd) to control the behavior of fsck.
>

First, thanks to all who responded.  Unfortunately, none of the
suggestions has had any impact.  The apt-get commands all succeeded
without any fuss or significant output.  The updater indicator remains
a red dot with the white line through it, and the updater fails every
time.  If I click on the "Show Updates", it does nothing.  If I click
"Check for updates", it goes out and get the updates to display, but
when I click on "Install Now", the updater shows a blank update window
and never does anything.

I have a script I use for doing the updates from the command line.  It
essentially does apt-get update, then apt-get dist-upgrade, then
apt-get clean, apt-get autoremove and apt-get autoclean.

Second, Tom, I didn't follow your comments above - how would I use the
systemd variable (where do I set it)?  I haven't quite updated on
systemd vs. the older style yet (recommended reading?).

Thanks.
MR