E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) dpkg error

Question

I'm getting this error when running sudo apt upgrade :

Error 24 : Write error : cannot write compressed block
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 lz4 -9 -l 24
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-7634-generic with 1.
dpkg: error processing package linux-firmware (--configure):
installed linux-firmware package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-firmware
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I tried the following:

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install -f
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

I also tried flatpak update

$ df -h
Filesystem             Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev                   1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs                  390M  1.9M  388M   1% /run
/dev/mapper/data-root  106G   89G   12G  89% /
tmpfs                  2.0G   53M  1.9G   3% /dev/shm
tmpfs                  5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs                  2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop2              56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/1885
/dev/loop1              97M   97M     0 100% /snap/core/9665
/dev/loop3             161M  161M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/116
/dev/loop4             162M  162M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/128
/dev/loop5             128K  128K     0 100% /snap/hello-world/29
/dev/loop0              97M   97M     0 100% /snap/core/9804
/dev/loop6              44M   44M     0 100% /snap/snap-store/415
/dev/loop7             227M  227M     0 100% /snap/wine-platform-runtime/145
/dev/loop8              55M   55M     0 100% /snap/core18/1880
/dev/loop9              63M   63M     0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506
/dev/loop10            227M  227M     0 100% /snap/wine-platform-runtime/136
/dev/sdb1              467M  427M  5.4M  99% /boot
tmpfs                  390M   20K  390M   1% /run/user/120
tmpfs                  390M   60K  390M   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sdc1              467M  131M  301M  31% /media/pappkozos/34c06214-5cb6-42b6-b033-9c53b228a584
/dev/sr0               7.5G  7.5G     0 100% /media/pappkozos/empire_disc1
/dev/sdc2              928G   46G  882G   5% /media/pappkozos/Merevlemez

$ df -ih
Filesystem             Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev                   1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs                  390M  1.9M  388M   1% /run
/dev/mapper/data-root  106G   89G   12G  89% /
tmpfs                  2.0G   53M  1.9G   3% /dev/shm
tmpfs                  5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs                  2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop2              56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/1885
/dev/loop1              97M   97M     0 100% /snap/core/9665
/dev/loop3             161M  161M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/116
/dev/loop4             162M  162M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/128
/dev/loop5             128K  128K     0 100% /snap/hello-world/29
/dev/loop0              97M   97M     0 100% /snap/core/9804
/dev/loop6              44M   44M     0 100% /snap/snap-store/415
/dev/loop7             227M  227M     0 100% /snap/wine-platform-runtime/145
/dev/loop8              55M   55M     0 100% /snap/core18/1880
/dev/loop9              63M   63M     0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506
/dev/loop10            227M  227M     0 100% /snap/wine-platform-runtime/136
/dev/sdb1              467M  427M  5.4M  99% /boot
tmpfs                  390M   20K  390M   1% /run/user/120
tmpfs                  390M   60K  390M   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sdc1              467M  131M  301M  31% /media/pappkozos/34c06214-5cb6-42b6-b033-9c53b228a584
/dev/sr0               7.5G  7.5G     0 100% /media/pappkozos/empire_disc1
/dev/sdc2              928G   46G  882G   5% /media/pappkozos/Merevlemez
pappkozos@terminator:~$ df -ih
Filesystem            Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on
udev                    476K   607  476K    1% /dev
tmpfs                   487K  1.2K  486K    1% /run
/dev/mapper/data-root   6.8M  632K  6.1M   10% /
tmpfs                   487K    75  487K    1% /dev/shm
tmpfs                   487K     3  487K    1% /run/lock
tmpfs                   487K    18  487K    1% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop2               11K   11K     0  100% /snap/core18/1885
/dev/loop1               13K   13K     0  100% /snap/core/9665
/dev/loop3               28K   28K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/116
/dev/loop4               28K   28K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/128
/dev/loop5                10    10     0  100% /snap/hello-world/29
/dev/loop0               13K   13K     0  100% /snap/core/9804
/dev/loop6               15K   15K     0  100% /snap/snap-store/415
/dev/loop7               28K   28K     0  100% /snap/wine-platform-runtime/145
/dev/loop8               11K   11K     0  100% /snap/core18/1880
/dev/loop9               61K   61K     0  100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506
/dev/loop10              28K   28K     0  100% /snap/wine-platform-runtime/136
/dev/sdb1               125K   324  125K    1% /boot
tmpfs                   487K    69  487K    1% /run/user/120
tmpfs                   487K   103  487K    1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sdc1               125K    20  125K    1% /media/pappkozos/34c06214-5cb6-42b6-b033-9c53b228a584
/dev/sr0                   0     0     0     - /media/pappkozos/empire_disc1
/dev/sdc2               882M   26K  882M    1% /media/pappkozos/Merevlemez

My kernel: 5.4.0-7634-generic

My installed kernels:

dpkg --list | egrep -i 'linux-image|linux-headers'
ii  linux-headers-5.3.0-7648                         5.3.0-7648.41~1586789791~19.10~9593806               all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.3.0
ii  linux-headers-5.3.0-7648-generic                 5.3.0-7648.41~1586789791~19.10~9593806               amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.3.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-5.4.0-7626                         5.4.0-7626.30~1588169883~20.04~bbe668a               all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.4.0
ii  linux-headers-5.4.0-7626-generic                 5.4.0-7626.30~1588169883~20.04~bbe668a               amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-5.4.0-7629                         5.4.0-7629.33~1589834512~20.04~ff6e79e               all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.4.0
ii  linux-headers-5.4.0-7629-generic                 5.4.0-7629.33~1589834512~20.04~ff6e79e               amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-5.4.0-7634                         5.4.0-7634.38~1592497129~20.04~9a1ea2e               all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.4.0
ii  linux-headers-5.4.0-7634-generic                 5.4.0-7634.38~1592497129~20.04~9a1ea2e               amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-generic                            5.4.0.7634.38~1592497129~20.04~9a1ea2e               amd64        Generic Linux kernel headers
ii  linux-image-5.3.0-7648-generic                   5.3.0-7648.41~1586789791~19.10~9593806               amd64        Linux kernel image for version 5.3.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-5.4.0-7626-generic                   5.4.0-7626.30~1588169883~20.04~bbe668a               amd64        Linux kernel image for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-5.4.0-7629-generic                   5.4.0-7629.33~1589834512~20.04~ff6e79e               amd64        Linux kernel image for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
it  linux-image-5.4.0-7634-generic                   5.4.0-7634.38~1592497129~20.04~9a1ea2e               amd64        Linux kernel image for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-generic                              5.4.0.7634.38~1592497129~20.04~9a1ea2e               amd64        Generic Linux kernel image

$ ls -alh /boot
total 226M
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root 4.0K Sep  6 18:18 .
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4.0K Sep  6 18:16 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 231K Apr 13 16:56 config-5.3.0-7648-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 233K Aug 28 17:31 config-5.4.0-7642-generic
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root 4.0K Sep  6 18:14 grub
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   29 Sep  6 17:44 initrd.img -> initrd.img-5.4.0-7642-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  21M Apr 16 00:08 initrd.img-5.3.0-7642-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  94M Sep  6 18:18 initrd.img-5.3.0-7648-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  81M Sep  6 18:18 initrd.img-5.4.0-7642-generic
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   29 Apr 15 23:48 initrd.img.old -> initrd.img-5.3.0-7648-generic
-rw-------  1 root root 4.5M Apr 13 16:56 System.map-5.3.0-7648-generic
-rw-------  1 root root 4.6M Aug 28 17:31 System.map-5.4.0-7642-generic
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   26 Sep  6 17:44 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-5.4.0-7642-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  11M Apr 13 16:56 vmlinuz-5.3.0-7648-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  12M Aug 28 17:31 vmlinuz-5.4.0-7642-generic
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   26 Apr 15 23:48 vmlinuz.old -> vmlinuz-5.3.0-7648-generic

Solution

The first I think:

• Do you have enough space in boot partition?. Can you paste the output of:

df -h

Also:

df -ih

You can get old kernels removed by this command:

sudo apt --purge autoremove

What version of Ubuntu are you using?.

Edit: After seeing your df -h I can see that /boot is 99% full:

/dev/sdb1              467M  427M  5.4M  99% /boot

You only have 5.4 MB available.

You can manually delete unused or very old kernel in /boot but this has to be very carefully done or you can loss the ability to boot. Also some files can be moved and symbolic links can be created and keep the files in a mountpoint with enough space and after that run

sudo apt --purge autoremove

I can assist if you provide the output of:

ls -alh /boot

Edit 2020-08-25: First see what is your Kernel:

uname -r

You can see the kernels installed in your system with:

dpkg --list | egrep -i 'linux-image|linux-headers'

The kernels that are older, specially if they are very much older, are the first candidates to be deleted. I recommend you to uninstall few of them, two or three only, until you can update your system and after run autopurge.

sudo apt --purge autoremove

You can remove one specific kernel with:

apt-get --purge remove fullkernelname

Normally you'll have to do it in pairs. For example:

apt-get --purge remove linux-headers-4.15.0-111

apt-get --purge remove linux-image-4.15.0-111-generic

Edit 2020-09-01: As you're using Kernel 34 we are going to move two that you are not using:

Type those commands:

sudo mkdir /root/old_kernels
sudo mv /boot/linux-headers-5.4.0-7626* /root/old_kernels/
sudo mv /boot/linux-headers-5.4.0-7629* /root/old_kernels/
sudo ln -s /root/old_kernels/* /boot/

After this you'll have some free space in /boot with the kernel files not deleted, but linked with a symbolic link. This is important so dkpg can find them in order to do autoremove. Now do:

sudo apt update

and after it runs successfully:

sudo apt --purge autoremove

Cheers

Comments

[The Exodia]

I posted it I'm using POP OS_ 20.04

[The Exodia]

I tried the $ sudo apt --purge autoremove but it gives the same error mentioned in the post. I think my boot may have low space but I just dont know what to delete and autoremoving just gives this error.

[The Exodia]

I have posted it I just don't know what I can delete and apt --purge autoremove Runs in the same error

[The Exodia]

Or no it gives this: apt --purge autoremove E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (13: Permission denied) E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), are you root?

[Carles Mateo]

Did you use sudo in front? This typically happens when you cannot get access to dpkg lock because another processes is trying to update the system, or you don't have permissions.

[Carles Mateo]

I don't recommend you to delete from /boot because later the package manager will fail as not finding installed dependencies. Also if you delete the wrong files your system can stop booting.

[Carles Mateo]

I'm editing my answer to add the commands to list your installed kernels and how to delete them.

[The Exodia]

I tried it both ways but it didn't work. Which kernels should I delete? I'm new to linux and don't really understand this boot stuff yet.

[The Exodia]

I edited my post to show the kernel list

[The Exodia]

I don't know what to delete

[Carles Mateo]

I edited my answer so you have the specific commands for your case. They are at the bottom, under edited 2020-09-01.

[The Exodia]

After I typed in sudo mv linux-headers-5.4.0-7626* /root/old_kernels/ it says this: mv: cannot stat 'linux-headers-5.4.0-7629*': No such file or directory I checked the kernel list but it's still there. Why can't it locate it?

[Carles Mateo]

Write first: cd /boot or add /boot/ to the mv commands.

[The Exodia]

It still cant find it: cd /boot /boot$ sudo mkdir /root/old_kernels /boot$ sudo mv /boot/linux-headers-5.4.0-7626* /root/old_kernels/ mv: cannot stat '/boot/linux-headers-5.4.0-7626*': No such file or directory

[The Exodia]

Wait maybe it moved it because it says now at df -h /dev/sdb1 467M 752K 431M 1% /boot

[The Exodia]

I ran sudo apt update and sudo apt --purge autoremove but I don't know if autoremove ran succesfully. It didn't say any error but after it said: cryptsetup: WARNING: Resume target cryptswap uses a key file it stopped but no error. Does it mean that it ran down succesfully and now I can do sudo apt upgrade?

[The Exodia]

Umm... Something went wrong

[The Exodia]

So yesterday I got on boot like a lot of storage like I wrote there. I dont know what caused it but I thought it was just the old roots moved around because I only typed the commands you wrote here. Then I proceeded with purge and update and everything seemed fine. But today when I booted it said this: error: file '/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found Entering rescue mode... grub rescue> _

[Carles Mateo]

Are you using dual boot, so having Windows and Linux on the same machine?. What exact commands did you use for purging?. Maybe you deleted your actual kernel. To try to locate normal.mod there is a nice explanation here: askubuntu.com/questions/266429/….

[Carles Mateo]

Please provide the outputs of: ls -alh /boot

[The Exodia]

No I'm not using dual boot. I used this code to purge sudo apt --purge autoremove

[The Exodia]

I made a fresh install but there's a problem with communicating with TPM chip. I tried to find and disable TPM in BIOS but I couldn't seem to find it and after running the current kernel it let me in Ubuntu 20.04 loading. After that I pressed F2 and it let me in the system. But it's different because I can't seem to find the boot in df -ih. But I provided the ls -alh

[Carles Mateo]

If you don't see /boot when you df is because instead of using a different partition for boot you have /boot as a folder in /root partition. Like that you'll not get out of space as long as root partition has enough space. So you're good. You should be able to disable TPM in BIOS, security section.

[The Exodia]

Okay thank you :)