Elementary OS Luna/Ubuntu based distro broken graphics after update
 

I am helping a friend with his Elementary OS Luna 12.04 distro.

He wanted to install this app to have his distro see his Android Tablet.
To do that he and I ran this:

After rebooting the system it hung at the Elementary Splash Screen.
Rebooting again only gave the same result so we tried Ctrl + Alt + F2 and he signed in. I thought that the update broke the graphics (fglrx)
So in console mode he tried:
I looked in the etc/ati/fglrx-uninstall.log

It said that the AMD Catalyst Proprietary Driver file is missing from the system.
To force uninstall, remove all installed file w/o verification, run:
/usr/share/ati/amd-uninstall.sh --force
Forcing uninstall is not reccommended and may cause system corruption.

This is not my computer but I need your help to help my friend.
Please advise as what we should try.

This may help;
Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I tried
Using this cmd tries to install the driver but returns me to the same message again:
Maybe try apt-get upgrade again?

Ok I tried apt-get -f install and after that I tried apt-get upgrade again.

It just returns me to the same thing over and over again:
What can I do to fix this it's going in circles?

The easiest way to fix that would be to recover from the system backup you surely have made before adding an unsupported third party repository to this system, which is, as I get from the PM you sent me, a system your friend needs for his work.

If for whatever reason you don't have a backup start with running

Yes, TobiSGD that's right this Elementary OS distro is what he uses for his work.

Since the system hangs at the Elementary OS logo splash screen the only thing that worked was console mode only; unfortunately all the research and cmd's (dpkg -- configure -a & ap-get install -f) that I found online that others tried did not help.

I have given thought to locating the corrupt package (gvfs) and remove it along with removing the whole block of information about it and save the changes made in the /var/lib/dpkg/status. I did not do that because I wasn't sure if it was wise.

When class is over I will try dpkg --audit and work from there.

I hope to be able to fix this OS and if not I will have (as a last resort) to re-install it:-
The pressure is on me to fix this and so I'll soldier on-:-

Thank you for your help and advice it means alot to me during this stressful time.

Using dpkg --audit is helpful.

Aside from using the 'dpkg' or "dpkg --install" command what command should I use to fix this system?

These options are creating confusion for me...Is this what I need to do?

The package is uppacked it's just not configured.
Not sure if dselect or aptitude is the answer.

Since this is not my computer I have to use caution.

There isn't "a command to fix this system".

You will need to identify what changes YOU made and reverse them.

Start by checking the apt/dpkg logs in /var/log to see what was done.

It might be a good idea to NOT keep installing stuff to see if it works (i.e. if you are in a hole - STOP DIGGING!), rather, try to carefully back out to the working state it was in previously, then reflect on the wisdom of adding a 3rd party repo (for a different OS) to the sources of a "production" machine.

I tried as a super user to get into the /var/log and the apt/dpkg log.
I used cat /var/log to view it. BTW, the Elementary OS is in console mode now, no GUI is present.
Console mode returned no such file or directory.

That stop digging lesson is a hard one to learn.

Here's what I think is what is going on.

Apt has been complaining that packages have unmet dependencies which is referring to the fglrx-amdcccle which depends on the fglrx-driver.

I (think) that has been the problem from the start.

The owner moved the amd.run (the script for the driver)file into the trash bin.

This was the AMD Catalyst Proprietary Linux Driver from the AMD website.
Which, correct me if I am wrong; is not the same as the fglrx_2%3a8.960-0buntu1.1_amd64.deb that's coming from the /var/cache/apt/archives-:-

Using the 'dpkg --audit" cmd that TobiSGD advised me to use makes it clear that the package is unpacked but not configured. Using "dselect" (unless I misunderstand, is the way to manage this unpacked yet unconfigured pkg) however: this is not an option because for one it (dselect) is not installed and when I attempt to install it doesn't work because the dependency problem is in my vision again.

Using -f fails as well.

How do I fix this?

So you have installed the binary driver from AMD's website and the package from the repositories? There you go, now you know why it is recommended to not use the installer, but the driver from the repositories, unless you know what you are doing. In no case ever use both at the same time. Remove that package, remove the binary drivers from the installer (I don't have them installed, but there should be an uninstall script somewhere, maybe in /usr/share/ati or something similar), so that you at least have a working system with the free driver, then proceed from that point on.

I wasn't sure if the AMD driver was installed. He is having trouble remembering if he installed the AMD driver or not. So; I checked with nano /usr/share/ati
the file opened in nano and the screen was blank. Nothing was in that file.

Is an empty file an indication that there is not a script & the driver is 'not installed' ?

If I use the Live Elementary OS DVD will it override the current installed fs?
(or) will it restore what he already has?

/usr/share/ati (id that is the correct name, I don't use the proprietary driver) should be a directory, not a file. It seems that nano always shows an empty file when you try to open an existing directory, a quite nonsensical behavior, IMHO.
Please specify what you actually want to do with the Elementary DVD.