Ubuntu
yelp package

can't add attachments

Asked by Robert Trabosh

i was loading attachments and computer hung up. Rebooted and tried to finish loading attachments. Got the error msg: Software index is broken

It is impossible to install or remove any software. Please use the package manager "Synaptic" or run "sudo apt-get install -f" in a terminal to fix this issue at first.

I tried to do as suggested and got no glory. Can you please help a 4 day Ubuntu user?

Thanks

Bob

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Ubuntu yelp Edit question
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Gergely Máté
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Revision history for this message
Robert Trabosh (drbobcc) said : 		#1

computer also hangs up a lot, doesn't matter what I'm doing

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Gergely Máté (sportember) said : 		#2

What was the response for "sudo apt-get install -f" ?

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Robert Trabosh (drbobcc) said : 		#3

I was asked for a password which I entered and the screen disappeared. Nothing else happened.
Thanks for ur help.
Bob

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Gergely Máté (sportember) said : 		#4

You can get to a classical character terminal by pressing CTRL-ALT-F1 (or F2 or F3...) at the same time. You can get back to graphics mode by pressing CTRL-ALT-F7.

On the character terminal, you can "log in" with your username and password. After login, you can try again
"sudo apt-get install -f"
and - hopefully - nothing will disappear. Does it solve the problem?

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Gergely Máté (sportember) said : 		#5

But, by the way, when the computer hang a lot, the problem seems much more serious than that. It is quite possible, that you have some hardware failure. In most cases, the problematic part is memory, therefore the boot menu (showing up on boot - maybe you have to press ESC at the right time) has a menu item like
Memtest
You should run that, when your machine hangs regulary. Memory hardware failures can be tricky - they don't show up until u really use that memory.

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Robert Trabosh (drbobcc) said : 		#6

Gergely,
I tried sudo apt-get install -f nothing. I ran synaptic and it showed the 2 broken dependencies put it would not allow me to fix them for it said "I didn't have the privilege"

does this help any

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Robert Trabosh (drbobcc) said : 		#7

by the way I reduce my Ram from 738 to 512 and I see no differance in performance and tne hang up seem to have gone.

Thank You Ver Much,
I'm indebted to you

Bob

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Gergely Máté (sportember) said : 		#8

No dept :-)

Welcome to Ubuntu!

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Robert Trabosh (drbobcc) said : 		#9

Gergely,
I still have the problem of the attachments, any idea with the last info I gave on :

I tried sudo apt-get install -f nothing. I ran synaptic and it showed the 2 broken dependencies put it would not allow me to fix them for it said "I didn't have the Admin privilege"

I'm starting to learn a lot more about Ubuntu and with help from people like yourself it makes it a lot easier.
Thanks
Bob :-)

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Best Gergely Máté (sportember) said : 		#10

The "sudo" command runs stuff as the admin user, so it is really strange that it says you didn't had admin privilege.

You may try "sudo dpkg --configure -a" to finish unfinished installations. If it does something, try again apt-get install with -f switch.

If that does not work, you can try to reinstall the package that causes the problem with "sudo apt-get install --reinstall XY", or, if that also fails, maybe it worth a try to remove that package with "sudo apt-get remove XY". You can reinstall it later if you really need it.

When everything fails, "man apt-get", "man dpkg", and prey :-).

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Robert Trabosh (drbobcc) said : 		#11

Gergely,
You did it. What a God send. thank you so very much. I have other small issues but thet can wait.
Thanks again my friend
 Bob :-) :-)

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Robert Trabosh (drbobcc) said : 		#12

Thanks Gergely Máté, that solved my question.