Broken packages endless loop

Hi fellow Zorin users.

I've been using ZorinOS since version 12 came out. So happy with Zorin in fact, that I purchased both version 12 and 15.
Up until now, everything has worked perfectly.
However...
Recently I upgraded to 15.2.
Somehow that forced the opensource Nouveau driver to be used.
I then tried installing the nVidia binary (closed source) 340 driver, which somehow broke the system.

Now I'm in this hell of an endless loop, where I can't install any packages, as I'm getting the following errors:

The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required...
Which follows a list of packages.
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.

And so I did - which then throws the following message:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt --fix-broken install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libnvidia-ifr1-435 : Depends: libnvidia-gl-435 but it is not installed
libnvidia-ifr1-435:i386 : Depends: libnvidia-gl-435:i386 but it is not installed
nvidia-driver-435 : Depends: libnvidia-gl-435 (= 435.21-0ubuntu0.18.04.2) but it is not installed
Recommends: libnvidia-gl-435:i386 (= 435.21-0ubuntu0.18.04.2)
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

So I try the "sudo apt --fix-broken install" , which then returns the following error below, and agian suggest me to use autoremove.

dpkg-divert: error: mismatch on package
when removing 'diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 by libnvidia-gl-435'
found 'diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340'
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libnvidia-gl-435_435.21-0ubuntu0.18.04.2_amd64.deb (--unpack):
new libnvidia-gl-435:amd64 package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libnvidia-gl-435_435.21-0ubuntu0.18.04.2_i386.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/libnvidia-gl-435_435.21-0ubuntu0.18.04.2_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)


I can't even revert back to the Nouveau driver...

So how do I fix this?

Any help is highly apprechiated.

Thanks

Best regards,
Martin

Hi, can I ask if your Software Updater is set to Main Server and not your country's locale server? Thanks.

I'm not entirely certain from memory, but I think that I tried to use the NVIDIA 340 driver (as required by my old desktop PC hardware) after a difficult search for it.

Fortunately I found out that it was incompatible with the latest Linux release (Feren 19.2 in my case) that I was using - so kept with nouveau - before corrupting anything.

Nouveau is just fine.

The Software update is set to the mirror closest to my home (Copenhagen).

No - Nouveau is "just fine" for regular use - not for gaming. I wanted to play CS:GO and Doom (2016) , and found that neither game wants to run with the Nouveau driver - they simply crash. This is how I figured that the update from 15.1 to 15.2 somehow reverted back to the Nouveau driver.

I'll try changing the software updater to use the main server - but I really don't think that will make any difference.
I need to figure out how to solve this broken package issue.

As expected - changing from Copenhagen to Main Server didn't do any difference at all.
Still the same issue.

ravensholt wrote:As expected - changing from Copenhagen to Main Server didn't do any difference at all.
Still the same issue.

Have you removed the broken packages and then tried installing using the "sudo apt-get install -y <PACKAGE NAME>" route?
Have you alternatively, tried searching pkgs.org for the packages that you need and installing them from their contained folder with "sudo dpkg -i <PACKAGE NAME>"?

I had a similar experience with Feren OS Classic the other day following a failed update to LibreOffice - I tried all the command line 'fix' suggestions to no avail, including Synaptic Package Manager's built in 'Fix Broken Packages' from the main menu - nada.

Solution? I uninstalled LibreOffice completely, then reinstalled, or rather installed the latest version and the problem disappeared. If you can find out which packages got uploaded from the logs then I would suggest removing them but not if it is going to remove Nautlus as this would mean your entire system disappearing up it's own kernel!

Just type in 'logs' in the menu search and you will see a whole plethora of different logs - take a look at hardware for starters to see if there are any clues, and also System.

Alternatvely, look at the logs in /var and a date that is near to when things went wrong.