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I started the installation of all the xfonts packages on my Ubuntu 14.04.1 system with

sudo apt-get install xfonts-*

While extracting a package (one of the hundreds of the list), the system got blocked. The mouse cursor worked, but all the windows were locked and a click anywhere or any button had no effect.

After a forced restart, I can work normally, but now I can't use aptitude! If I try to install a package, it says

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

And if I run that command, Ubuntu gets blocked again, while processing xfonts-100dpi or a similar package (it is always the same).

Can this problem be fixed in any way?

Tim
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BowPark
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  • try sudo apt-get install -f. then try installing it again. – Tim Nov 25 '14 at 19:53
  • Maybe deleting the files in /var/cache/apt/archives can help --- in case there is some damaged file that is triggering bugs around. – Rmano Nov 25 '14 at 20:34
  • Post the error message when you run sudo dpkg --configure -a – Panther Nov 26 '14 at 00:34
  • @Tim: sudo apt-get install -f produces again dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem. – BowPark Nov 26 '14 at 10:00
  • @Rmano: I deleted all the xfonts-* files in /var/cache/apt/archives and then tried to run sudo dpkg --configure -a, but the system blocked as before. Could I remove all the files in that folder without any further damages? – BowPark Nov 26 '14 at 10:02
  • @bodhi.zazen: it doesn't give me an error message. While processing a certain package (xfonts-100dpi or now xfonts-misc) it just freezes all the windows and the keyboard. I can only move the mouse cursor, but I can't click any button. – BowPark Nov 26 '14 at 10:08
  • This seems quite a bad hang, smell of a corrupted disk. --- I would 1) backup; 2) delete all files in that directory; 3) reboot to single user and force a check on the filesystem --- and then try again. – Rmano Nov 26 '14 at 11:16
  • I had problems with Grub to reboot to single user (maybe used a wrong syntax); anyway, from a live CD I deleted all the files in /var/cache/apt/archives (but not the subdirectory partial, which is empty), then I umounted the filesystem and made sudo fsck /dev/mydevice -f. The output is a list of the 5 steps and then /dev/mydev 362794/9773056 files (0.1% non-contiguous), 3145417/39062272 blocks. Is this the same as your suggested procedure? – BowPark Nov 27 '14 at 10:22

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