2

my issue started after I checked for and applied (I think) a full system upgrade.

The issue is that I am faced with a frozen login screen after I've correctly entered my password entered. The mouse can move, but clock is stuck and the text cursor not blinking.

The power button works.

When I reach login screen again, instead of typing in my password, I press

ctrl + alt + refresh

I reach a text terminal which reads:

Ubuntu 23.04 myname-gnawty tty3
myname-gnawty login:

I enter my name, then my password, and then I get an Ubuntu welcome message, which starts with

Welcome to Ububtu 23.0.4 (GNU/Linuc 6.2.0-26-generic x86_64)

There follows a list of links to websites for documentation, management, and support.

It also reads

0 updates can be applied immediately.

After some copyright and warranty info, the last line is

myname@myname-gnawty:~$

with a blinking cursor.

The output of sudo apt install lubuntu-desktop^ contains,

Suggested packages: hunspell openoffice.org-hunspell | openoffice.org-core
The following NEW packages will be installed: hunspell-en-us  0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1499 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 794 MB/901 MB of archives. After this operation 899 kB of additional disk space will be used.
E: You don't have enough free space in /var/cache/apt/archives/

How do I get to using Lubuntu on my Chromebook as usual again? What should I do next?

Archisman Panigrahi
  • 28,338
  • 18
  • 105
  • 212
qorbex
  • 21
  • 4
  • Try sudo apt install --reinstall lubuntu-desktop^, and reboot – Archisman Panigrahi Aug 12 '23 at 19:56
  • I'm a little wary of just entering commands in when I'm not sure of the reasoning behind them, but I appreciate the comment @ArchismanPanigrahi - Could you elaborate on your reasoning for this? Thanks. – qorbex Aug 12 '23 at 20:17
  • 1
    This command reinstalls the lubuntu desktop environment, just in case some important component went missing/corrupted during the upgrade. Also, I am glad you don't want to blindly enter any commands – Archisman Panigrahi Aug 12 '23 at 20:39
  • Okay cool, thanks @ArchismanPanigrahi. Just to clarify, do I need to include the ^ character after desktop? Or is that a typo. Your suggestion is similar to a line suggested here (https://ubunlog.com/en/how-to-reinstall-in-graphical-environment-of-ubuntu-when-the-desktop-does-not-load/), but without the ^ so I just wanted to double check. – qorbex Aug 12 '23 at 21:10
  • I have seen people recommending ^ for metapackages like lubuntu-desktop, but I am not very sure what it exactly does. You can also try without the ^, it should not alter the results much – Archisman Panigrahi Aug 12 '23 at 21:18
  • Okay, I did it without the ^ Here's the last few lines of what I got. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 4540 B of archives. After this operation 0 B of additional disk space will be used. E: You don't have enough free space in /var/cache/apt/archives/ @ArchismanPanigrahi – qorbex Aug 12 '23 at 21:36
  • I rebooted and tried your original suggestion, with the ^ after desktop, @Arc. A lot more lines, starting with Note and ending with `Suggested packages: hunspell openoffice.org-hunspell | openoffice.org-core The following NEW packages will be installed: hunspell-en-us

    0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1499 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 794 MB/901 MB of archives. After this operation 899 kB of additional disk space will be used. E: You don't have enough free space in /var/cache/apt/archives/`

    Rebooted again and am back at square one (initial question).

     – qorbex Aug 12 '23 at 22:03
  • 1
    Hmm. Most likely, your Chromebook has ran out of space (which can easily happen for 32 GB system partition), and the last update could not be completed due to that. Try removing snapd (you can later replace snap packages with their APT counterparts - snap consumes a significant amount of space) sudo apt purge --autoremove snapd. Then, try reinstalling the desktop environment, and also perform a full upgrade with sudo apt full-upgrade, and reboot. – Archisman Panigrahi Aug 13 '23 at 02:23
  • 2
    Does this answer your question? Not enough space in /var/cache/apt/archives/ – Archisman Panigrahi Aug 16 '23 at 18:53

1 Answers1

0

The error E: You don't have enough free space in /var/cache/apt/archives/ shows that your Chromebook ran out of space, and it cannot install updates anymore. Given you have only 32GB internal storage, this is possible if you install quite a few programs.

Let's clear some disc space.

Firstly, you can try replacing snap packages with their APT counterparts (which consume significantly less disc space).

To free up some disc space, run

sudo apt purge snapd

Remove unnecessary dependencies with

sudo apt autoremove

Delete the apt cache with

sudo apt clean

Then, try reinstalling the desktop environment, and also perform a full upgrade with sudo apt full-upgrade.

Afterwards, uninstall the apps you won't need.

Archisman Panigrahi
  • 28,338
  • 18
  • 105
  • 212