package fglrx (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Dustin Troutt]

I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS 2.6.32-30-generic 64bit

I was trying to remove and reinstall the ATI/AMD fglrx driver because it was not working properly (listed under System>Administration>Hardware Drivers, but unable to activate it). I used these commands, but the last one returned an error code (1).

sudo apt-get purge fglrx*
sudo apt-get purge xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-radeon
sudo apt-get purge xorg-driver-fglrx

sudo apt-get install fglrx

I'm a bit new to all of this, so I'm not sure which information from my console will be useful. I hope it's not to big of a hassle, but I have included the entirety of my console output during the process below: (once again, I do apologize as I am unsure how much of this is useful.)

dustin@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get purge fglrx*
[sudo] password for dustin:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting xorg-driver-fglrx for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting fglrx-kernel-source for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting xorg-driver-fglrx-dev for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting fglrx for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting fglrx-driver-dev for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting fglrx-control-qt2 for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting fglrx-dev for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting fglrx-modaliases for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting xfree86-driver-fglrx-dev for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting fglrx-amdcccle for regex 'fglrx*'
Note, selecting fglrx-control for regex 'fglrx*'
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  fakeroot linux-headers-2.6.32-28 dkms linux-headers-2.6.32-28-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  fglrx* fglrx-modaliases* xorg-driver-fglrx*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 100MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 233247 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing xorg-driver-fglrx ...
Removing fglrx ...
Removing all DKMS Modules

Error! There are no instances of module: fglrx
8.723.1 located in the DKMS tree.
Done.
update-alternatives: removing manually selected alternative - switching gl_conf to auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/mesa/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/GL.conf (gl_conf) in auto mode.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Purging configuration files for fglrx ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
dpkg: warning: while removing fglrx, directory '/usr/lib32/fglrx' not empty so not removed.
dpkg: warning: while removing fglrx, directory '/usr/lib/fglrx/etc/ati' not empty so not removed.
dpkg: warning: while removing fglrx, directory '/usr/lib/fglrx/etc' not empty so not removed.
dpkg: warning: while removing fglrx, directory '/usr/lib/fglrx' not empty so not removed.
Removing fglrx-modaliases ...
Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_US.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-30-generic
Processing triggers for python-support ...
dustin@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get purge xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-radeon
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  fakeroot linux-headers-2.6.32-28 dkms linux-headers-2.6.32-28-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  xserver-xorg-video-all* xserver-xorg-video-ati* xserver-xorg-video-radeon*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 1,954kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 233067 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing xserver-xorg-video-all ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-ati ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-radeon ...
Purging configuration files for xserver-xorg-video-radeon ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
dustin@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get purge xorg-driver-fglrx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package xorg-driver-fglrx is not installed, so not removed
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  fakeroot linux-headers-2.6.32-28 dkms linux-headers-2.6.32-28-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
dustin@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get purge libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-dir xserver-x org-core
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package libgl1-mesa-dir
dustin@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install fglrx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  fglrx-amdcccle
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  fglrx fglrx-amdcccle
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 34.3MB of archives.
After this operation, 110MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/restricted fglrx 2:8.723.1-0ubuntu5 [29.2MB]
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/restricted fglrx-amdcccle 2:8.723.1-0ubuntu5 [5,135kB]
Fetched 34.3MB in 40s (850kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package fglrx.
(Reading database ... 233046 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking fglrx (from .../fglrx_2%3a8.723.1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb) ...

[Warning] Uninstall : inst_path_default or inst_path_override
 does not exist in /etc/ati. This suggests that the ATI driver
 is not installed, the ATI driver is only partially installed,
 or the current ATI driver installed is an older version than the
 one this script was designed for. Both files listed above are
 required for determining where installed files are located.
 To force uninstallation of the driver by guessing where the
 uninstallation files are located, set the FORCE_ATI_UNINSTALL
 environment variable and re-run /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh (this is not recommended).

dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/fglrx_2%3a8.723.1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
Selecting previously deselected package fglrx-amdcccle.
Unpacking fglrx-amdcccle (from .../fglrx-amdcccle_2%3a8.723.1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/fglrx_2%3a8.723.1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: fglrx (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-30.59-generic 2.6.32.29+drm33.13
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-30-generic x86_64
AptOrdering:
 fglrx: Install
 fglrx-amdcccle: Install
 fglrx: Configure
 fglrx-amdcccle: Configure
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Apr 16 12:25:44 2011
DkmsStatus:

ErrorMessage: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20110131.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Studio 1558
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-30-generic root=/dev/sda3 loop=/hostname/disks/root.disk ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: fglrx-installer
Title: package fglrx (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
dmi.bios.date: 03/30/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A12
dmi.board.name: 0874P6
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A12
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: A12
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA12:bd03/30/2011:svnDellInc.:pnStudio1558:pvrA12:rvnDellInc.:rn0874P6:rvrA12:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrA12:
dmi.product.name: Studio 1558
dmi.product.version: A12
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: x86_64
 kernel: 2.6.32-30-generic