Audio Problem

[Condobloke]

Take a punt, Doc.

Just go back week or two (or whatever) and go for it.

 

[whazzupdoc]

Was not sure where to reinstall the earlier Timeshift pic to. That's why I asked for specific instructions about Timeshift Restore . I chose the large 900+ gb partition. But now I've got this response on trying to Update. Advice such as 'Just go for it' does not help an old fart like me.
Doc

 

[whazzupdoc]

Something isn't right. The little shield tells me what I already know...that the update failed (it's a red shield now and says 'could not install the security updates).

This is probably the most frustrating part of switching from Win7 to Linux. When something fails then I'm lacking the tools (know-how) to do the things that Wiz and CondoBloke tell me to do...or 'why' I'm doing the steps they are telling me to do. I suppose one day it'll become clear.
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

I suppose one day it'll become clear.

When it does, share it with me - I spent 30 years with Windows, and I still have to think hard some days, about Linux

Dick, open your Timeshift. If you get the following

SCREENSHOT 1 - WIZARD'S WIZARD

... just press Finish, or X out of it top right, and you should be brought to a "Screenshot screen", of shots taken.

SCREENSHOT 2 - WIZARD'S SCREENSHOT SCREEN

This is just for my internal HDD.

So for starters, if you can post us a screenshot of your Timeshift summary page, that will help us go further.

Meanwhile, I will keep talking (something I excel at

Wiz

 

[whazzupdoc]

Per your instructions...this shows backups for Serena as well as Sylvia as you can see. I've not messed with Serena. What worries me Chris iss that I backed up to the wrong partition. I was given 3 options at the time & I think I chose Partition 6 because of all the unused space on it. Also I chose the earliest Sylvia which was back in Sept , 2019...the time you were helping me setup.
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

Have you actually run the Restore process, Dick? From Sylvia?

If you had, you would have been taken to a full screen like a full-page Terminal screen, grey or black, with white text output spooling down the screen for a minute or two. Once that finished, the computer would have automatically rebooted without your input.

Did that happen?

Wiz

 

[whazzupdoc]

No Wiz...truthfully I've never known about it. How do I get to it? And what steps do I take?

 

[wizardfromoz]

OK, you're losing me a little here, friend.

What worries me Chris iss that I backed up to the wrong partition.

1. How so? Your summary screen shows what appear to be successful snapshots stored on /dev/sda6 which is a good, large partition. We can work with that.

Also I chose the earliest Sylvia which was back in Sept , 2019...the time you were helping me setup.

2. Chose it for what?

That screenshot of 14 September was taken on demand (tag O) which means you initiated it, which was appropriate, and it was successful. The ones since that date have a D for daily beside them, which likely means that they are incremental snapshots taken by Timeshift whenever you have had your computer switched on. This will occur invisibly, in the background, usually within 1 hour of your powering on.

So it looks to me like we are ready to go, but I want you to check something first.

Wiz

 

[whazzupdoc]

O.k., then I made a good choice of partitions. I did not know what I was doing but I made the right move. I chose the oldest system pic because I did not know a what point in time this sound error occurred. Help?

Now you say we're ready to go but you 1st want to check something...what?
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

Nothing that won't wait.

I've corrected myself above, and we'll call that screen you provided a "screenshot screen", where you can take a number of actions. When we are doing the Restore, there will be a summary screen.

1. Open your screenshot screen and click Settings.
2. Choose Filters, there may be 1 to 2 lines. However it looks now, I want you to change it to look like this

SCREENSHOT 3 - EXCLUDE HOME

So you will be excluding eg /home/dick/**

Once you get that sorted, OK to exit there.

3. Back at the Screenshot Screen, click once on the entry for 9 January (highlights it). Then click Restore, at the top.

4. You will be taken through a couple of windows, OK or Continue them, and when you click the last one, you'll kn0w it is the last one because you will go to a full screen spooling off a lot of white text on a grey background as described earlier.

You can watch, or go and make a cuppa.

When it completes, it will reboot your computer, and you will be at Grub menu, or else taken into the login point for Sylvia.

5. Login.

Let us know how you go.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[whazzupdoc]

Chris, I did what you told me. Under Settings/Filters were 3 lines... /home/Dick/ ... /home/Ann/ and + /root **. I deactivated (-) Dick and Ann but they're still present even after restarting.

Note...after dong all this I took several new snapshots but none show up in Timeshift. ????
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

...I took several new snapshots but...

Why, Dick?

Was everything working, eg your Updates shield, and what was the story with your sound?

Wizard

 

[whazzupdoc]

No sound Wiz. I reset all the things dealing with Audio...showing 100% and I've got a program running right now that should be producing Audio...no go!

The update is running right now. Maybe it will install the necessary packages. I'll let you know.
Doc

 

[whazzupdoc]

O.K., man this is frustrating. When I ran the update I got a screen "Configuring libdvd-pkg...please run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg" to launch this process for the first time." I did that...went thru the request for password and got "debconfig: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process: Resource temporarily unavailable. Can you explain to me what is happening? Am I not doing something right?
Doc

 

[whazzupdoc]

I got out of everything and restarted. I was able to get my screenshots. Will this help?

 

[wizardfromoz]

Can you explain to me what is happening? Am I not doing something right?

Nope and Nope - I can't explain it and you are doing everything right

I can, however, suggest a workaround, as follows

sudo apt install --reinstall libdvd-pkg

# that's a double dash before reinstall

If that goes through without error or comment, reboot the computer and then try to run the Update Manager again.

If that goes through OK, then report back and let me know and I'll give you a way to stop it happening again.

I'll come back on the sound issue again soon, but in the meantime -

Q. Have you tried Serena to see if the sound works there? If not, try it and report.

Cheers

Wiz

 

[whazzupdoc]

You can see the pkg is broken. What to do next?
Doc

 

[whazzupdoc]

I have sound now on both Serena and Sylvia...loud! Serena needs for me to get rid of some files. Not enough space it says Where do I go to delete files? Likely all the previous screenshots are using up valuable space. I still can't do the sudo apt install though.
Good news is sound!!!
Doc

 

[wizardfromoz]

Well, any sound is good news


You've got to be pushing midnight, so I'll come back when I can and post more on the other issues -

1. Freeing up space on Serena and
2. Get Update Manager fixed on Sylvia

... and you can try them tomorrow or whenever, timeframe is yours, friend.

Cheers, sleep well, and

Avagudweegend

Wiz

 

[wizardfromoz]

Been busy helping a young fella with no operating system and have to adjourn back there.

Let's take 2. first

2. Get Update Manager fixed on Sylvia

Try this in Terminal

sudo apt-mark hold libdvd-pkg libdvdcss2 libdvdcss-dev

then reboot and try Update Manager again, let us know how you go.

Cheers

Wiz