mdm failed after update

James Zerr · **Joined:** Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:34 am **Posts:** 51

Tried: apt-get install --reinstall mdm . W: Not using locking for read only lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock. E: Unable to write to /var/cache/apt/. E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. From grub chose Recovery. Chose Root. At root prompt entered: apt-get install --reinstall mdm ; also tried apt-get install uberstudent-mdm-theme_0.0.1_all.deb. Thanks in advance for your help!

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:14 pm

Investigating, trying to replicate, stay tuned for another post....

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:37 pm

I cannot replicate the issue.

Have you added any PPAs to the UberStudent default installation? If so, can you list them, please?

James Zerr · **Joined:** Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:34 am **Posts:** 51

Yes! have added PPA's after default. System won't load as: No mdm theme. From root prompt made rw and then apt-get install --reinstall mdm and mdm reinstalled but upon reboot still the same. Broke the system. Operator error! Will be out of town for a while. Thanks for the quick response. Have to research when back in town and find some time.

James Zerr · **Joined:** Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:34 am **Posts:** 51

Placed iso in VM DVD and ran UberStudent live. Was able to copy my files to usb stick. Where would l look for my firefox bookmarks? Have not yet been able to salvage the install. If I can copy my bookmarks then I guess I will start over with a clean install and stick to a default installation. I would like to add Opera though as my credit union will not print out my cancelled checks unless I use IE (on windows) or Opera on windows / linux (no luck with firefox or chrome, or IE using wine). I had Opera installed on the system I broke. Thanks for your help!

Damion Lunin · **Joined:** Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:18 pm **Posts:** 123

James Zerr wrote:

Where would l look for my firefox bookmarks?

You should find backups of your Firefox bookmarks in the following subfolder in whatever archive folder you created on your USB stick:

home/youroldusername/.mozilla/firefox/uberstudent-plato.default/bookmarkbackups/

These backups will be .json files. Once you move the most recent .json file to your new bookmarkbackups folder, you'll have to restore your bookmarks from within Firefox's "Show All Bookmarks" Library, under the "Import and Backup" drop-down menu, using the Restore option.

From there you can export your restored Firefox bookmarks as an HTML file, which any browser could read.

James Zerr · **Joined:** Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:34 am **Posts:** 51

Thanks Damion! That worked great for my bookmarks! Is it possible to go to the hidden files to find out what I did to mdm in the broken system? If so would you know which file to look in? No problem if not as I should now have what I need to re-install a default system. Do you know if installing Opera would be harmful to a default system? Thanks for your help!

Robin Collins · **Joined:** Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:09 pm **Posts:** 8

James Zerr wrote:

I would like to add Opera though as my credit union will not print out my cancelled checks unless I use IE (on windows) or Opera on windows / linux (no luck with firefox or chrome, or IE using wine). I had Opera installed on the system I broke. Thanks for your help!

This might help - Firefox addon to change what you tell a system when it queries your browser/OS - it is /or was as I recall configurable in Opera's preferences somewhere which may explain why it worked.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... -switcher/
Puts a drop down menu top right of the screen - you can then pretend to be IE9 on Windows :lol:

I use it for Pipelight (Silverlight for Linux)

James Zerr · **Joined:** Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:34 am **Posts:** 51

Thanks Robin! I tried IE 9 and Win7 10.6 32-bit but no success. It didn't hurt to try as it was easier than installing another program. I'll just use Opera again. Thanks for the suggestion!

madhusudan kumar sinha · **Joined:** Wed Jul 31, 2013 4:11 am **Posts:** 2

i have encountered the same problem after updating mdm. maybe i have additionally added the noobslab PPA for mdm or was it default?? I don't know but here is how i came out through it. when your system gives error message that "mdm theme was not found" or sometheing like that then press CTRL+ALT+F1 to enter text mode.( you can press CTRL+ALT+F7 to switch back to gui mode). here give your administrative username and then enter your password. then enter the command
startxfce4
this will start your xfce session.remove mdm using command
sudo apt-get remove mdm
now you have two choices.
1> go to var/cache/apt and look for previous version of mdm. if you haven't deleted cached deb's then you will find two versions of mdm. install the older one.
2> if you don't have cached deb of mdm then install GDM. :twisted:

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