terminal freeze during update operation

[armon]

Update operation done by update manager froze at the stage of grub update. Since then it is impossible to open the synaptic package manager[(E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report].
I tried in vain in the terminal the suggested command (sudo dpkg --configure -a) - the termunal freezes at the stage of grub update.
It is impossible to see new updates in the the update manager ( it is stuck on a message "Not all updates can be installed" and it is impossible to complete a partial upgrade.
Start up time now is very slow - 4-5 minutes!

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: gnome-terminal 2.32.1-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.50-generic 2.6.38.8
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: 894dad0cc6d7d8a62fe0f6748d655a0d
CheckboxSystem: 3d3208847d3d5f91226b98d85f564483
Date: Sat Sep 24 14:38:14 2011
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gnome-terminal
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-terminal
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-29 (148 days ago)

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug report has not been filed about a specific package rather just about Ubuntu in general. Examining the contents of this report it seems that this bug is probably about ubiquity. If this seems correct to you (you can get the package description by using the command 'apt-cache show ubiquity') please change the affected package to that one by clicking the expander next to Ubuntu and filing in the Package text box. Additionally, if there are no log files included in this report it'd be helpful if you were to gather them using the command 'apport-collect 858167' in a terminal after you've assigned the bug to a package.

For future reference there are bug reporting tools built in to Ubuntu that can be accessed by going to Help -> Report a Problem in the application's menu or by using the command 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package with which you are having a problem.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Please disregard the comment from the bug bot it was a mistake.

[Raphaël Hertzog (hertzog)]

Please provide the log of what you see on the terminal, you should have a copy in /var/log/apt/term.log.

[armon (montanar)]

Thank you guys for trying to solve the problem.

Good news: Since I sent the bug report many things have changed: I disconnected the HD of the Windows 7 which seemed to be affecting the startup and update of the Ubuntu HD (I do not have now dual boot and use Ubuntu exclusively), than I corrected the startup using "Ubuntu mbr repair" and finally upgraded to 11.10. Since then everything has been working properly.

Analyzing the long-lasting and frustrating chain of events, I think that after one of the frequent automatic Win 7 updates, possibly coinciding with Ubuntu update, somehow the sdb HD was transformed to be sda HD and vice versa, thus causing a mix up in the processes of updates of the two OS.

Note that I am just an ordinary, layman user (not a developer) and I have a very limited understanding of the two operating system mechanisms, so it seems that getting out of the mess was a beginners luck....

Thank you again and all the best.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for grub2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]