update/flash player problem

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-357256.html

Reinstall is not necessary, you just got your package system all muddled, this is one of the massive weaknesses in package based distros

Thanks for the link.
Have tried to delete the adobe lash files in var/lib/dpkg/info and they are read only and root is the owner. Can it be done through terminal?

you simply need to add 'sudo' at the start of the commands needing root access. Just like all the other times you have typed your password for an admin task.

e.g.

mv status status-bad

becomes

sudo mv status status-bad

Please try this fix procedure::

Step 1: Open Terminal from "Applications->Accessories->
Terminal"

Step 2: Please COPY-PASTE each line below into the Terminal then hit <enter> after each line)

sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/*
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists
sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists
sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
LANG=C;sudo aptitude clean
LANG=C;sudo aptitude autoclean
LANG=C;sudo apt-get update
sudo dpkg --clear-avail
sudo dpkg --configure -a
LANG=C;sudo aptitude install -f
LANG=C;sudo aptitude update
LANG=C;sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

Step 3: Please post results (copy/paste terminal output from each command) on this thread

Thanks guys, OK Mark here goes
sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup no output
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status no output
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available no output
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/* no output
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists no output
sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists no output
sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial no output
LANG=C;sudo aptitude clean
 .......Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done

LANG=C;sudo aptitude autoclean ...
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Freed 0B of disk space

LANG=C;sudo apt-get update
Get:1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic Release.gpg [189B]
Get:2 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates Release.gpg [189B]
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security Release.gpg [189B]
Get:4 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic Release [65.9kB]
Get:5 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security Release [37.1kB]
Get:6 http://packages.medibuntu.org karmic Release.gpg [197B]
Get:7 http://packages.medibuntu.org karmic Release [9237B]
Get:8 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates Release [44.1kB]
Get:9 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages [1353kB]
Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/main Packages [14.2kB]
Get:11 http://packages.medibuntu.org karmic/free Packages [3268B]
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/restricted Packages [14B]
Get:13 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/main Sources [4677B]
Get:14 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/restricted Sources [14B]
Get:15 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/universe Packages [5835B]
Get:16 http://packages.medibuntu.org karmic/non-free Packages [6154B]
Get:17 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/universe Sources [793B]
Get:18 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/multiverse Packages [14B]
Get:19 http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/multiverse Sources [14B]
Get:20 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/restricted Packages [7971B]
Get:21 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Sources [640kB]
Get:22 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/restricted Sources [3270B]
Get:23 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Packages [5133kB]
Get:24 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Sources [2795kB]
Get:25 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/multiverse Packages [190kB]
Get:26 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/multiverse Sources [116kB]
Get:27 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Packages [72.5kB]
Get:28 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/restricted Packages [14B]
Get:29 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Sources [24.6kB]
Get:30 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/restricted Sources [14B]
Get:31 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/universe Packages [36.6kB]
Get:32 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/universe Sources [9859B]
Get:33 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/multiverse Packages [1165B]
Get:34 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/multiverse Sources [1223B]
Fetched 10.6MB in 12s (844kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done

sudo dpkg --clear-avail no ouput
sudo dpkg --configure -a no output
LANG=C;sudo aptitude install -f ...
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following partially installed packages will be configured:
  adobe-flashplugin
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 29 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the adobe-flashplugin package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the adobe-flashplugin package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
E: Internal error: couldn't generate list of packages to download

LANG=C;sudo aptitude update ......
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic Release.gpg
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates Release.gpg
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security Release.gpg
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security Release
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates Release
Hit http://packages.medibuntu.org karmic Release.gpg
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/restricted Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/main Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/restricted Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/multiverse Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/multiverse Sources
Hit http://packages.medibuntu.org karmic Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/restricted Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/main Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/restricted Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/universe Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/universe Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/multiverse Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com karmic-security/multiverse Sources
Hit http://packages.medibuntu.org karmic/free Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/universe Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/multiverse Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/multiverse Sources
Hit http://packages.medibuntu.org karmic/non-free Packages
Reading package lists... Done

LANG=C;sudo aptitude dist-upgrade .....
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  adduser apparmor apparmor-utils evince gtk2-engines-pixbuf initscripts
  libapparmor-perl libapparmor1 libevdocument1 libevview1 libgail-common
  libgail18 libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-bin libgtk2.0-common libsmbclient
  libwbclient0 samba-common samba-common-bin smbclient
  system-tools-backends sysv-rc sysvinit-utils totem totem-common
  totem-mozilla totem-plugins tzdata tzdata-java
The following partially installed packages will be configured:
  adobe-flashplugin
29 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 3879kB of archives. After unpacking 3875kB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the adobe-flashplugin package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
Writing extended state information... Done
E: I wasn't able to locate file for the adobe-flashplugin package. This might mean you need to manually fix this package.
E: Internal error: couldn't generate list of packages to download

Still seems to be the flash player problem...... this output from synaptic
E: The package adobe-flashplugin needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.
E: Internal error opening cache (1). Please report
Tried to re-install Flashplayer says file could be corrupt or check permissions
Manual repair of flash player? If so how please?

Update. Managed to run update manager from system/admin It ran a partial install of the updates then mamaged to remove the broken flash player plugin (no idea how, I couldn't read the output comments at the speed they were going) Re-installed the packageand everything is working fine again.

Thanks for all the help, really appreciated.

Thanks Mark Rijckenberg, that solved my question.

Don't use flash on the adobe site, flash is installable on the repos. I have seen this issue far too many times for my liking.