dpkg error when trying to install libmemcached-dev

Question

I was trying to install libmemcached-dev for php, and I encountered an error:

E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.

Then I typed the sudo dpkg --configure -a, on the first try it gives an internal error and said that to report it. Then I tried it again(3-4 times): sudo dpkg --configure -a, and my laptop always goes hang. And before it goes completely unresponsive, luckily the print screen works and here is the text:

[sudo] password for japjap:
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
japjap@laptop:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Setting up linux-image-4.4.0-47-generic (4.4.0-47.68) ...
Running depmod.
update-initramfs: deferring update (hook will be called later)
initrd.img(/boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-47-generic
) points to /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-47-generic
 (/boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-47-generic) -- doing nothing at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-4.4.0-47-generic.postinst line 491.
vmlinuz(/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic
) points to /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic
 (/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic) -- doing nothing at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-4.4.0-47-generic.postinst line 491.
Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal 4.4.0-47-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-47-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-47-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/pm-utils 4.4.0-47-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/unattended-upgrades 4.4.0-47-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/update-notifier 4.4.0-47-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub 4.4.0-47-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-47-generic

Anybody can help how I can solve this? I can't install anything.

First 20 lines of my /etc/default/grub

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

Update:

df -h

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            946M     0  946M   0% /dev
tmpfs           194M  6.2M  187M   4% /run
/dev/sda1       228G  8.9G  207G   5% /
tmpfs           966M  536K  965M   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           966M     0  966M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           194M   64K  193M   1% /run/user/1000

lsblk

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 232.9G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   231G  0 part /
├─sda2   8:2    0     1K  0 part 
└─sda5   8:5    0     2G  0 part [SWAP]
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  

sudo blkid

/dev/sda1: UUID="6416ac0d-4822-47aa-9035-a3fadf5033b2" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="118168b7-01"
/dev/sda5: UUID="437c42c7-26b8-4fb9-8fd7-10267ba9276a" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="118168b7-05"

cat /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
UUID=6416ac0d-4822-47aa-9035-a3fadf5033b2 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sdb5 during installation
UUID=437c42c7-26b8-4fb9-8fd7-10267ba9276a none            swap    sw              0       0

Update:

free

              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:        1976820      860788       80364      140768     1035668      766212
Swap:       2024444        2508     2021936

sudo apt-get autoclean
[sudo] password for japjap: 
E: Could not get lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the download directory

L. D. James · Answer 1 · 2016-11-12T15:40:02.917

You're having driver issues.

Boot with the nomodeset grub option.

To perform this from the Grub Menu hit e on the ubuntu option. Then add the nomodeset parameter to the line that says, quiet splash. After the edit hit F10 to boot.

Then edit the /etc/default/grub file and add this argument to the boot defaults.

Change from:

# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:                                                                          
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'                                                                                          

GRUB_DEFAULT="saved"
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT="0"                                                                                                            
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET="true"
GRUB_TIMEOUT="10"
GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT="$GRUB_TIMEOUT"
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Change to:

# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:                                                                          
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'                                                                                          

GRUB_DEFAULT="saved"
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT="0"                                                                                                            
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET="true"
GRUB_TIMEOUT="10"
GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT="$GRUB_TIMEOUT"
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

The only line to be concerned with is the one highlighted in bold.

Editor examples

Use your favorite edit to edit the file. These are examples to edit the file:

$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub

or

$ sudo pksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

After making the change update your grub with:

$ sudo update-grub
$ sudo update-grub

This will resolve your laptop's lockup (due to hardware and drivers conflict) and allow you to complete the sudo dpkg --configure -a command you're having problems with.

heynnema · Answer 2 · 2016-11-16T15:44:32.817

It looks like a Software Update failed, and left you partially updated. We'll try and fix this the short way...

From the Unity dashboard, start Synaptic. Go to the edit menu and choose Fix broken packages. Quit Synaptic.

update: If you can't use Synaptic, do this:

boot the system to the GRUB menu
choose Advanced Options
choose Recovery mode
choose dpkg - fix broken packages
when you return to the menu, choose root access
type reboot
once rebooted, open terminal, type sudo dpkg --configure -a
whether step 7 works or not, perform commands 1-5, below

From the Unity dashboard, start terminal. Enter the following commands, one at a time (best to use copy and paste):

sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get upgrade

dpkg error when trying to install libmemcached-dev

2 Answers2