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I am running 14.04 LTS.

Kernel updates will not install or uninstall. The boot space (approx 240Mb) is now full and using sudo apt-get autoremove, autoclean, clean or remove will not work.

This all started with kernel update 3.13.0-47.

No space is freed and the following comes up.....

sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 60 not to upgrade.
7 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up linux-image-3.13.0-47-generic (3.13.0-47.78) ...
Running depmod.
update-initramfs: deferring update (hook will be called later)
The link /initrd.img is a dangling linkto /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-48-generic
Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal 3.13.0-47-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-47-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 3.13.0-47-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-47-generic
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-47-generic

gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-47-generic with 1.
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools exited with return code 1
Failed to process /etc/kernel/postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-3.13.0-47-generic.postinst line 1025.
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-3.13.0-47-generic (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Setting up linux-image-3.13.0-48-generic (3.13.0-48.80) ...
Running depmod.
update-initramfs: deferring update (hook will be called later)
The link /initrd.img is a dangling linkto /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-47-generic
Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal 3.13.0-48-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-48-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 3.13.0-48-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-48-generic
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-48-generic

gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-48-generic with 1.
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools exited with return code 1
Failed to process /etc/kernel/postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-3.13.0-48-generic.postinst line 1025.
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-3.13.0-48-generic (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-extra-3.13.0-48-generic:
 linux-image-extra-3.13.0-48-generic depends on linux-image-3.13.0-48-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-3.13.0-48-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-extra-3.13.0-48-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-generic:
 linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-3.13.0-48-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-3.13.0-48-generic is not configured yet.
 linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-extra-3.13.0-48-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-extra-3.13.0-48-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic:
 linux-generic depends on linux-image-generic (= 3.13.0.48.55); however:
  Package linux-image-generic is not cNo apport report written because the error message indicates it's a follow-up error from a previous failure.
                                                                  No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
                                                      No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
                                          onfigured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up linux-image-extra-3.13.0-46-generic (3.13.0-46.79) ...
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal 3.13.0-46-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-46-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 3.13.0-46-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-46-generic
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-46-generic

gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-46-generic with 1.
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools exited with return code 1
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-extra-3.13.0-46-generic (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
                                                                    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-extra-3.13.0-47-generic:
 linux-image-extra-3.13.0-47-generic depends on linux-image-3.13.0-47-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-3.13.0-47-generic is not configured yet.

> dpkg: error processing package linux-image-extra-3.13.0-47-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
                                                                    E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

How can this be fixed without doing a reinstall? I tried to resize the boot area and GParted will not let me.

Fabby
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Richard McLellan
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    apt-get autoremove; apt-get install -f; apt-get dist-upgrade -y – davidbaumann Apr 07 '15 at 17:51
  • Still no luck. No space left on device (I can't empty boot) and unmet dependencies? The link /initrd.img is a damaged link Removing symbolic link initrd.img you may need to re-run your boot loader[grub]

    How do I re-run GRUB?

     – Richard McLellan Apr 08 '15 at 08:47
  • sudo update-grub – davidbaumann Apr 08 '15 at 09:02
  • kg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe) Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d . run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 3.13.0-49-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-49-generic run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 3.13.0-49-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-49-generic Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.13.0-49-generic_3.13.0-49.81_amd64.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) – Richard McLellan Apr 08 '15 at 09:08
  • cannot copy extracted data for './boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-49-generic' to '/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-49-generic.dpkg-new': failed to write (No space left on device) No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe) Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d . run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 3.13.0-49-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-49-generic run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 3.13.0-49-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-49-generic – Richard McLellan Apr 08 '15 at 09:14
  • Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.13.0-49-generic_3.13.0-49.81_amd64.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) – Richard McLellan Apr 08 '15 at 09:14
  • Did you try resizing when booted from a gparted live CD? If yes, could you post a screen shot so we can see why you can't? – Fabby Apr 11 '15 at 15:23
  • I tried to resize but GParted would not let me. I couldn't resize the main partition to a smaller size. I will need a complete reinstall of the OS with a bigger boot partition. It is odd how kernel updates from 3.13.0-39 were 'broken'. – Richard McLellan Apr 12 '15 at 12:51
  • I think my answer to another (newer) question applies here, too. – jarno Feb 10 '16 at 10:32

1 Answers1

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I had the same problem. After doing df -h I saw that my /boot was almost full. I went through this guide to uninstall old versions of ubuntu. Now the update works fine. It is a bit odd, because normally I get an error telling me /boot is almost full rather than a non-descriptive failure message.

Community
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Matt
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