errors everytime i update ubuntu 11.10

Do what the error message tells to do

"ERROR: Build failed. Please review the build log at /tmp/alsa-driver-linuxant.32368.log"

As I am not sure if the error log of the past upgrade attempt is still there please do the following:

Open a terminal and issue the commands

sudo apt-get install -f

Check if you again get that error message and note the file name.
Upload that file to http://pastebin.ubuntu.com

Post a new message in this question thread telling us the link reference that you got from pastebin and copy/paste all output of the apt-get command in that message.

@Manfred Hampl

hi, thank you for replying, sorry for the delay from my end.

now, first you wanted me to paste the contents of the log file at pastebin, i have done so - the link is -
http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/733970/

second, you want the output of the apt get command, it is within the dashed lines -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  lib32bz2-1.0 libboost-filesystem1.42.0 libkrb5-3:i386 libatk1.0-0:i386
  libk5crypto3:i386 libc-client2007e libswscale0 libxfixes3:i386
  ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 libqt4-declarative:i386 libopal3.6.8
  libxcomposite1:i386 libavutil50 libldap-2.4-2:i386 liblcms1:i386
  libqt4-qt3support:i386 libcupsimage2:i386 libidn11:i386 libnss3:i386
  lib32ncurses5 nspluginwrapper dahdi libx264-106 lib32tinfo5 ia32-libs
  libboost-system1.42.0 libqt4-test:i386 libqt4-script:i386
  libqt4-designer:i386 libquicktime1 libqt4-network:i386 libgmime-2.0-2a
  libxxf86vm1:i386 libboost-python1.42.0 libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libcheese-gtk18
  libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libss7-1 libcairo2:i386 libgnutls26:i386
  libglapi-mesa:i386 libopenr2-3 libtasn1-3:i386 libfreetype6:i386
  libqt4-opengl:i386 libdvbpsi6 libexpat1:i386 libavcodec52 libc6-i386
  lib32ffi6 lib32gcc1 libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386 libdatrie1:i386
  libavahi-common-data:i386 dahdi-dkms lib32asound2 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0:i386
  libxcb1:i386 libxau6:i386 libpanel-applet-4-0 libpixman-1-0:i386
  libgdbm3:i386 libcups2:i386 libcurl3:i386 libxinerama1:i386
  libkrb5support0:i386 nspluginviewer:i386 libreadline5 libxft2:i386 mlock
  libmatroska3 libice6:i386 libxdmcp6:i386 libgcrypt11:i386
  libboost-thread1.42.0 libthai0:i386 dahdi-linux libpostproc51
  libkeyutils1:i386 libqt4-sql:i386 libqt4-svg:i386 libxrender1:i386
  libnspr4:i386 libxss1:i386 libavformat52 libtiff4:i386 libjasper1:i386
  libjpeg62:i386 lib32ncursesw5 libtonezone2.0 libpt2.6.7 libqtgui4:i386
  libavahi-client3:i386 libx11-6:i386 libsasl2-2:i386 libfontconfig1:i386
  lib32z1 libpango1.0-0:i386 libsm6:i386 libpri1.4 lib32stdc++6
  libxdamage1:i386 libxcb-render0:i386 libqt4-scripttools:i386 librtmp0:i386
  libgssapi-krb5-2:i386 libxi6:i386 libaudio2:i386 fxload libxcursor1:i386
  libxcb-shm0:i386 libxt6:i386 libxext6:i386 libsasl2-modules:i386
  gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 libavahi-common3:i386 libxrandr2:i386
  libsqlite3-0:i386 libmng1:i386 libgtk2.0-0:i386 libllvm2.9:i386
  libgpg-error0:i386
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up alsa-driver-linuxant (1.0.23.0) ...
Building modules for the 3.0.0-12-generic kernel, please wait... done.
ERROR: Build failed. Please review the build log at /tmp/alsa-driver-linuxant.2990.log
dpkg: error processing alsa-driver-linuxant (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
 alsa-driver-linuxant
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

what next?

The question is where that package is coming from, as it seems not to be a standard Ubuntu package.
What I find is http://www.linuxant.com/alsa-driver providing already a higher version, namely 1.0.23.1 (compared to 1.0.23.0)
You might try switching to that version. And maybe you find some help in the http://www.linuxant.com pages

In any case the snippet with the problem must be this:
"make[4]: Entering directory `/usr/lib/alsa-driver-linuxant/include/sound'
cp ../../alsa-kernel/include/ac97_codec.h .
cp: `../../alsa-kernel/include/ac97_codec.h' and `./ac97_codec.h' are the same file
make[4]: *** [ac97_codec.h] Error 1"

There are reports that in some cases there is a symlink in a place where the alsa installation does not expect it to be.

The command

ls -la /usr/lib/alsa-driver-linuxant/include/sound

should reveal if there are symlinks in that directory.

@Manfred Hampl
within the dashed lines is the output for that command, i have no idea what a symlink is, sorry. i'm not a code writer just a windows to ubuntu convert.

give me a few minutes to tell you about the higher version, i'll try and install it from the webpage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
total 28
drwxrwxr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-11-10 14:01 .
drwxrwxr-x 9 root root 4096 2011-11-10 14:00 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2011-11-10 14:00 ac97_codec.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ac97_codec.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 491 2010-04-16 16:41 ac97_codec.patch
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2011-11-10 14:00 aci.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/aci.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 ad1816a.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ad1816a.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 ad1843.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ad1843.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 ak4113.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ak4113.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 ak4114.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ak4114.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 ak4117.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ak4117.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40 2011-11-10 14:00 ak4531_codec.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ak4531_codec.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 2011-11-10 14:00 ak4xxx-adda.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ak4xxx-adda.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2011-11-10 14:00 asequencer.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/asequencer.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 2011-11-10 14:00 asoundef.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/asoundef.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 2011-11-10 14:00 asound_fm.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/asound_fm.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 asound.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/asound.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 2011-11-10 14:00 atmel-abdac.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/atmel-abdac.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 2011-11-10 14:00 atmel-ac97c.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/atmel-ac97c.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 control.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/control.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2011-11-10 14:00 core.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/core.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 2585 2010-04-16 16:41 core.patch
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 2011-11-10 14:00 cs4231-regs.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/cs4231-regs.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 48 2011-11-10 14:00 cs46xx_dsp_scb_types.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/cs46xx_dsp_scb_types.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 2011-11-10 14:00 cs46xx_dsp_spos.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/cs46xx_dsp_spos.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 49 2011-11-10 14:00 cs46xx_dsp_task_types.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/cs46xx_dsp_task_types.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 cs46xx.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/cs46xx.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 cs8403.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/cs8403.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 cs8427.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/cs8427.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 emu10k1.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/emu10k1.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 2011-11-10 14:00 emu10k1_synth.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/emu10k1_synth.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 emu8000.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/emu8000.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 2011-11-10 14:00 emu8000_reg.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/emu8000_reg.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 2011-11-10 14:00 emux_legacy.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/emux_legacy.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2011-11-10 14:00 emux_synth.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/emux_synth.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 es1688.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/es1688.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2011-11-10 14:00 gus.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/gus.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 2011-11-10 14:00 hda_hwdep.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/hda_hwdep.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2011-11-10 14:00 hdsp.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/hdsp.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2011-11-10 14:00 hdspm.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/hdspm.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2011-11-10 14:00 hwdep.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/hwdep.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2011-11-10 14:00 i2c.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/i2c.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1381 2011-11-10 14:00 .includes
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2011-11-10 14:00 info.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/info.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 initval.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/initval.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2011-11-10 14:00 jack.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/jack.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2011-11-10 14:00 l3.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/l3.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 953 2010-04-16 16:41 Makefile
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 2011-11-10 14:00 memalloc.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/memalloc.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 minors.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/minors.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 2011-11-10 14:00 mixer_oss.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/mixer_oss.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 mpu401.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/mpu401.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2011-11-10 14:00 opl3.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/opl3.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2011-11-10 14:00 opl4.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/opl4.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2011-11-10 14:00 pcm.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/pcm.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40 2011-11-10 14:00 pcm-indirect.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/pcm-indirect.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 pcm_oss.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/pcm_oss.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2011-11-10 14:00 pcm_params.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/pcm_params.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 3847 2010-04-16 16:41 pcm.patch
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 pt2258.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/pt2258.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2011-11-10 14:00 pxa2xx-lib.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/pxa2xx-lib.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 rawmidi.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/rawmidi.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 2011-11-10 14:00 s3c24xx_uda134x.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/s3c24xx_uda134x.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 2011-11-10 14:00 sb16_csp.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/sb16_csp.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 2011-11-10 14:00 sb.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/sb.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2011-11-10 14:00 seq_device.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/seq_device.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2011-11-10 14:00 seq_kernel.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/seq_kernel.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 2011-11-10 14:00 seq_midi_emul.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/seq_midi_emul.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 2011-11-10 14:00 seq_midi_event.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/seq_midi_event.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 seq_oss.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/seq_oss.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 2011-11-10 14:00 seq_oss_legacy.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/seq_oss_legacy.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 2011-11-10 14:00 seq_virmidi.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/seq_virmidi.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 2011-11-10 14:00 sfnt_info.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/sfnt_info.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40 2011-11-10 14:00 sh_dac_audio.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/sh_dac_audio.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 sh_fsi.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/sh_fsi.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 2011-11-10 14:00 snd_wavefront.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/snd_wavefront.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 soc-dai.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/soc-dai.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 2011-11-10 14:00 soc-dapm.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/soc-dapm.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2011-11-10 14:00 soc.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/soc.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 2011-11-10 14:00 soc-of-simple.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/soc-of-simple.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 2011-11-10 14:00 soundfont.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/soundfont.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 2011-11-10 14:00 tea575x-tuner.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/tea575x-tuner.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 2011-11-10 14:00 tea6330t.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/tea6330t.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 2011-11-10 14:00 timer.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/timer.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 44 2011-11-10 14:00 tlv320dac33-plat.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/tlv320dac33-plat.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2011-11-10 14:00 tlv.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/tlv.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 2011-11-10 14:00 tpa6130a2-plat.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/tpa6130a2-plat.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 trident.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/trident.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 uda134x.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/uda134x.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 uda1380.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/uda1380.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 2011-11-10 14:00 util_mem.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/util_mem.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 version.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/version.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 2011-11-10 14:00 vx_core.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/vx_core.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 2011-11-10 14:00 wavefront.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wavefront.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 wm2000.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wm2000.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 wm8903.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wm8903.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 wm8904.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wm8904.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 wm8955.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wm8955.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 wm8960.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wm8960.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 wm8993.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wm8993.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 wm9081.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wm9081.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2011-11-10 14:00 wss.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/wss.h
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 2011-11-10 14:00 ymfpci.h -> ../../alsa-kernel/include/ymfpci.h
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@Manfred Hampl

the download from the website did not happen,
when i downloaded the zip file and double clicked the file it opened up the software centre and the loading kept happening for over 45 minutes, so closed it!

now i run the update manager, download the update in the end the error comes up again!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ending lines after update

Setting up gconf-defaults-service (3.2.3-0ubuntu0.1) ...
Setting up gir1.2-gconf-2.0 (3.2.3-0ubuntu0.1) ...
Setting up liblightdm-gobject-1-0 (1.0.6-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up gnome-settings-daemon (3.2.1-0ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Errors were encountered while processing:
 alsa-driver-linuxant
Error in function:
Setting up alsa-driver-linuxant (1.0.23.0) ...
Building modules for the 3.0.0-12-generic kernel, please wait... done.
ERROR: Build failed. Please review the build log at /tmp/alsa-driver-linuxant.14233.log
dpkg: error processing alsa-driver-linuxant (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. when 12.04 comes out i'll simply reinstall ubuntu via windows (dual boot), instead of updating from the update manager, this will surely solve the problem right?

2. all this started because audio output via laptop speakers was fine but i did not get anything via headphones.
in 11.04 they had a option under the sound settings to switch between speakers and headphones
any thoughts on how i can get audio via headphones?

once again thank you so much! for the help

If software-center does not open your .deb file, you might try with gdebi package-installer if that is available on your system

There is still one option that you can try, as the alsa-driver-linuxant most probably is not active at all, you might just remove it.

The command

sudo apt-get remove alsa-driver-linuxant

should remove all remnants of alsa-driver-linuxant and the related installation errors should then disappear.

@Manfred Hampl

hi, i'm so sorry for the late reply!

now, your first suggestion was to try gdebi - i don't know how to use it so i did not do that.

second suggestion was my favorite - totally remove alsa - i used the command.
thank you so much, the error message does not appear now after every update! yay!
but wait, there is a major issue,
the is no sound output at all!
previously under sound setting there used to be 2 options, one was HDMI, the other was something without HDMI.
right now there is only one option called - dummy output stereo

sorry, please tell me how to get the sound back?

also the output when i enter the remove command is within the dashed lines
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 236279 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing alsa-driver-linuxant ...
make: [uninstall] Error 1 (ignored)
dpkg: warning: while removing alsa-driver-linuxant, directory '/usr/lib/alsa-driver-linuxant/include' not empty so not removed.
dpkg: warning: while removing alsa-driver-linuxant, directory '/usr/lib/alsa-driver-linuxant/utils' not empty so not removed.
dpkg: warning: while removing alsa-driver-linuxant, directory '/usr/lib/alsa-driver-linuxant' not empty so not removed.
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry to hear that you now completely lost sound on your system, this for sure was not my intention!

1. When you download the newer version http://www.linuxant.com/alsa-driver/archive/alsa-driver-linuxant-1.0.23.1/alsa-driver-linuxant_1.0.23.1_all.deb.zip please save the .deb file that it contains somewhere on your computer. In Nautilus file mannager, if you then do a right click on the .deb file, there should be an option 'open with...', and you should have the possibility to select 'gdebi package installer' (/usr/bin/gdebi-gtk)

2. Does the command "aplay -l" detect your sound card (see https://help.ubuntu.com/11.10/ubuntu-help/sound-nosound.html )

3. There is a long page with instructions in case of sound problems on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure
If you go through it step by step, that hopefulls will at least re-enable the sound through the laptop spreakers that you had at the beginning.

@Manfred Hampl

awesome man! thank you so much! sound is back!

i used your suggestion number 3, because it was the easiest to follow and it did not scare me!

in that page i used, only step 1. they have a command for 11.10 which i copy pasted and rebooted to get the sound!

question 1
now when i update manager it shows this information, in a error dialog box, is this normal?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
W:Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found
, W:Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found
, W:Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found
, E:Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

question 2
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure
in this page under step 7
they describe a unique problem. look at the second last paragraph - i have a HP dv6 laptop
they connect to this webpage - http://digitizor.com/2009/10/22/fix-headphone-sound-problem-hp-laptop-linux/

now when i click the link to download the long method - it says the webpage does not exist!
when click to download the short method, i get this webpage - http://vwbusguy.fedorapeople.org/hda-hp/
please tell me how and what to download here?

Glad to hear that you have sound again.

Your question 1:
Apparently at the time when you were on natty release, you looked for some audio packages in the ubuntu-audio-dev PPA. Now you have upgraded to oneiric and get these "W:Failed to fetch" errors.

The explanation is simple: On the PPA https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-audio-dev/+archive/ppa there are only packages for earlier releases (karnic, lucid, maverick, natty) and nothing for oneiric so far. To get rid of that warning message you have to disable the ubuntu-audio-dev PPA. (Open update-manager, click on 'settings' and deselect that PPA.)

Your question 2:
The file to download for the long method is available on ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/tiwai/misc/hda-verb-0.3.tar.gz

The short method is not usable for you. It is not designed for Ubuntu, but for Fedora (which is not using .deb packaging as Debian and Ubuntu, but .rpm packaging like RedHat). Even if there is the "alien" package that enables to install .rpm packages on Ubuntu, I find only a package for 64 bit systems, and (as far as I can see) you are using the 32 bit version of Ubuntu.

So what you can do is to download and unpack/install the package for the long method, and them create your own scripts to execute the commands as shown in http://digitizor.com/2009/10/22/fix-headphone-sound-problem-hp-laptop-linux
You will have to combine the right commands out of that list for your purposes (mute spekaer / unmute headset as well as unmute speaker / mute headset).

Just give it a try, if you need further help you are welcome to ask again.

@Manfred Hampl

thank you so much!

part 1 - the errors do not appear when i update anymore! yay!

part 2 - thanks to your link, i have downloaded the hda-verb,
according to the instructions in the webpage, i'm supposed to unzip the file. when i right click the only useful option available is extract here. (mentally i was hoping for the option - unzip)
but once extract here is complete, i go to terminal and copy paste the the first command in the long method and it says -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sudo: ./hda-verb: command not found
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so i need to do something, which i have not done, please tell me?

p.s. so very sorry to disturb you again and again!

As far as I can see the hda-verb-0.3.tar.gz contains source files.

The words 'unpack', 'extract' and 'unzip' usually all describe the same, namely the reversal of the action of packing a number of files together into an archive, but of course there is no standard and everybody is using the word of his/her choice.

Right clicking on the file and selecting 'unzip' should already be the right first step.
If everything on your system behaves as I expect, this will create a new subfolder named hda-verb-0.3.
Inside that subfolder there should then be some source files (ChangeLog, hda_hwdep.h, hda-verb.c, ...)

To create the executable you have to compile the source. Try the following:
open a terminal and issue the commands

cd hda-verb-0.3
make hda-verb

This should create the executable hda-verb in the hda-verb-0.3 subdirectory, and you can then try with sudo ...

@Manfred Hampl

yay! thank you so very much Manfred! (sorry for all the trouble! please do help me the next time i get in trouble!)

everything is fine now, (i'm such a child! - figuratively speaking), totally awesome!

for all the other newcomers to ubuntu who may read this in the future - please look at the interaction between the two of us - this needs patience, the awesome guys at ubuntu are ready to help. the question is are you ready to try ubuntu!

thank you so much!

there is a message on top in launchpad that says - Your question is solved. If a particular message helped you solve the problem, use the 'This solved my problem' button. - in this particular case, there were so many messages which Manfred Hampl has shared which solved so many problems, so with that in mind i'm not clicking on any button! check out the whole conversation for solving your particular issue.