initially i manually ran the alsaconf and it went smoothly and i got the volume control on the tool bar.
but when i reboot....its gone and gnome gives the same error "no volume control elements or device found"
after rebooting i ran the "apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils". ....but it gives the same error.
i tried to install hdparm using "apt-get install hdparm".....but again it gives the error about alsa and linux sound base confuguration.....its as follows.....



Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Suggested packages:
apmd
The following NEW packages will be installed:
hdparm
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
3 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 51.7kB of archives.
After unpacking 197kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 testing/main hdparm 6.1-2 [51.7kB]
Fetched 51.7kB in 0s (348kB/s)
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process
Selecting previously deselected package hdparm.
(Reading database ... 55248 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking hdparm (from .../archives/hdparm_6.1-2_i386.deb) ...
Setting up linux-sound-base (1.0.9b-4) ...
debconf: DbDriver "config": /var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process
dpkg: error processing linux-sound-base (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of alsa-base:
alsa-base depends on linux-sound-base; however:
Package linux-sound-base is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing alsa-base (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of alsa-utils:
alsa-utils depends on linux-sound-base (>= 1.0.9b-1); however:
Package linux-sound-base is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing alsa-utils (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up hdparm (6.1-2) ...

Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-sound-base
alsa-base
alsa-utils
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)



i have tried to install ...gaim,xmms using apt-get......but in both the cases it gives error about alsa utils.(xmms gives the same error even after manually running alsaconfig)
thanx in advance.

The problem you have is that apt thinks that another process is currently configuring packages. Hence the lock on config.dat. This probably happened if you rebooted during the last configure. To rectify the problem, locate the lock file for config.dat, and delete it. Then apt can get on with what it needs to do.

I had this problem before and had trouble locating the lock file.

Rhys

hi...thanx a lot for your reply......
please can you suggest me as to how to locate the file thats locking config.dat.....

/var/cache/debconf/config.dat is locked by another process

Hi
I have more or less the same problem.

oz:/home/ozt# apt-get remove --purge mythtv-database
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
mythtv-database*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 94.2kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
(Reading database ... 99957 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing mythtv-database ...
Purging configuration files for mythtv-database ...
dpkg: error processing mythtv-database (--purge):
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 10
Errors were encountered while processing:
mythtv-database
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
oz:/home/ozt# apt-get install -f
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up linux-sound-base (1.0.11-4) ...
/etc/modutils/actions: line 10: syntax error: unexpected end of file
Error while executing /etc/modutils/actions, aborting
Note: If /etc/modutils/actions should not be an executable script, please ensure it does not have execute permission
dpkg: error processing linux-sound-base (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-sound-base
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

i've tryed deleting the locking file "config.dat" hasn;t helped much
and i can't reinstall or remove the package nither with apt or directly with dpkg

oz:/home/ozt# apt-get install --reinstall linux-sound-base
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Setting up linux-sound-base (1.0.11-4) ...
/etc/modutils/actions: line 10: syntax error: unexpected end of file
Error while executing /etc/modutils/actions, aborting
Note: If /etc/modutils/actions should not be an executable script, please ensure it does not have execute permission
dpkg: error processing linux-sound-base (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-sound-base
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I've tryed messing with the post removal script as suggested in one of the post here "apt-get problem - need top force remove an application"
didn't help much.

Has anyone got any leads ?