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My system: 32 bit, PIV 2.4 Ghz, 1GB RAM, No Graphic Card, Windows / Ubuntu dual boot system.

Two days ago, I did upgrade, which went smoothly. After restarting system, and doing login, I see only blank desktop, no Unity launcher or task bar, no gui, nothing. I can press Ctrl+Alt+T and open programs, but graphics looks very old.

I was trying solutions posted on this forums, one of command sudo apt-get install -f gave following error, which I was getting previously also.

Below error: 

Preconfiguring packages . . .
dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/available' near line 59
missing package name

A fatal error occurred.
Please report this as a bug and include the files.
/var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log and /var/log/dist-upgrade/apt.log in your report. The upgrade has aborted.
Your original sources list was saved in 
/etc/apt/sources list.distUpgrade

System Error E: sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg/ returned an error code (2)
msinfo
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  • Try [re-installing Unity](http://askubuntu.com/a/131090/178596) - Also, what is on line 59 of `/var/lib/dpkg/available`? - you can use `cat -n /var/lib/dpkg/available` to find it. – Wilf Dec 06 '13 at 22:50
  • I checked, it is blank. – msinfo Dec 07 '13 at 17:04
  • There are a few methods listed [here](http://askubuntu.com/questions/109994/dpkg-error-parsing-file-var-lib-dpkg-status-near-line-6449) to remedy the dpkg thing - try that, and **only if that does not work**, run `sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available /var/lib/dpkg/available.bak`, and then `sudo nano /var/lib/dpkg/available`, remove the 59th line, save with Ctrl+O and Enter, and then exit with Ctrl+X - then try `apt-get` again. Then you should be able to reinstall Unity to restore the graphics. – Wilf Dec 07 '13 at 17:32
  • @wilf : Thanks, did what you said, and it resolved my problem. I have now my desktop and icons. But whole UI is now very very slow. Even in browser keys are getting send late by 2secs. Windows also lag in response. I don't have any graphics card. At login screen I can see only Ubuntu option for Desktop Environment. Do you have an idea about this? And how could I mark your response as answer? – msinfo Dec 08 '13 at 15:19
  • If Windows is also lagging, as well, it is likely to be a hardware problem. :-( - Does `lspci -v` show anything different to what you normally expect? I will add my comment as an answer anyway – Wilf Dec 08 '13 at 15:22
  • Oh there are various ways to install the other desktop enviroments - http://askubuntu.com/questions/141015/install-desktop-environments-or-use-different-distributions fo LightDM, XFCE and KDE (sort of), for Gnome [this](http://askubuntu.com/a/355097/178596) should help. – Wilf Dec 08 '13 at 15:29
  • This is output of lspci -v | grep VGA : 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/910GL Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0e). – msinfo Dec 08 '13 at 16:09
  • As long as it has driver, it should be working alright, otherwise you would not be able to see anything on the screen *at all* in all likelihood. If you get any more trouble with it lagging, I would post a new question on it - it could be a faulty RAM card or anything *(You can also check hardware with `lshw`, or ['Hardware Lister'](https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/lshw-gtk/))* – Wilf Dec 08 '13 at 17:17

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There are a few methods listed here to remedy the dpkg thing.

Only if the above does not help you, try this: run sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available /var/lib/dpkg/available.bak, and then sudo nano /var/lib/dpkg/available, remove the 59th line, save with Ctrl+O and ↵, and then exit with Ctrl+X - then try apt-get again. Then you should be able to reinstall Unity to restore the graphics.

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Wilf
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