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Looking back as a totally new user, I began with Ubuntu 14.04. After a couple of months, still being clueless as an Ubuntu user, I was presented with the option of upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04. Version 15.04, unfortunately, was niether installed by me nor was it offered as an option by my OS.

To further complicate and confuse matters, as I went through the process of help offered to me on (my 2nd askubuntu question) I learned that Grub was not installed. I installed it and it is now gone again.

At this point, since my 2nd askubuntu question. I have had more than just lag and freeze problems. Once it went from running Chrome to suddenly flipping to no apps running with everything on upper right (internet connection to start menu -- not in sight.) I rebooted and it ran smoothly for a few hours. I continue to reboot and reboot.

Question 1:) Could damage have been done by this (skip an upgrade) from 14.04 to 16.04? Kernel problems, perhaps?

Question 2:) Is not Grub an integral part of the Ubuntu package that would not normally need installing?

thewolfstar
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  • 1) 14.04 -> 16.04 is a normal LTS upgrade path. 2) More than likely Grub is not gone, it just doesn't show when booting. Try holding the shift key down after a power on. – pfeiffep Sep 23 '16 at 14:29
  • I just shut machine down completely. I started back with power button and immediately held shift key down. No Grub menu showed. It took its usual route to desktop -- enter password box. – thewolfstar Sep 24 '16 at 19:16

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1. Yes a damage can be caused if the upgrader started to upgrade software and you stopped it by force. To fix any issues run these commands by terminal:

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

The 1st command updates the package lists, the 2nd command fixes any broken packages and the 3rd command upgrades all the packages and fixes inconsistencies (it doesn't upgrade the distro, don't get confused by the name)

2. Grub package is installed by default at all linux distros. When we say install grub, we don't mean the package, but we mean the command grub-install which installs the bootloader at the hard disk (usually the first partition) so that you can boot to your operating system. If grub is gone for some reason then you won't be able to boot at your operating system (you need to have a live cd in order to fix it).

If by "I learned that Grub was not installed. I installed it and it is now gone again." you mean that you don't see the grub menu when you boot your machine, then you need to hold shift as you boot to get your grub menu as @pfeiffep said in his comment.

Thanos Apostolou
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  • I never stopped any upgrade by force thereby causing damage. However, I will run commands you suggested, anyway. – thewolfstar Sep 24 '16 at 18:56
  • Again, after not running for 8 hours: puter@puter:~$ sudo apt-get update [sudo] password for puter: E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable) E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/ E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable) E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it? – thewolfstar Sep 24 '16 at 19:01
  • @thewolfstar Aaaa ok that's easy to fix. This can happen if you have synaptic package manager or Software Updater running during these commands. Make sure that these programs are closed and run the commands again. If the problem persists then run the command `sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf `, then reboot and run again the commands. – Thanos Apostolou Sep 25 '16 at 10:44
  • synaptic package manager is not installed. I'm not running any upgrade when I get this message at the terminal. I always get this message at the terminal. I am not able to run as admin no matter what I do. I cannot access the Grub menu by holding the shift key down on startup. I don't know if it's a combination of screwy 16.04 and malware let loose in recent clicking on links in email. | Time to install 15.04 by usb stick? – thewolfstar Sep 27 '16 at 16:12
  • @thewolfstar Hmm yeah maybe you need a clean install. Just keep in mind that 15.04 is no longer supported, so you can choose between 14.04 and 16.04. About the grub menu, follow this: http://askubuntu.com/questions/16042/how-to-get-to-the-grub-menu-at-boot-time. – Thanos Apostolou Sep 28 '16 at 08:45
  • Will do, Thanos Apostolou – thewolfstar Sep 28 '16 at 17:01
  • Thank you to all wonderful Ubuntu developers but so far, for the last week, at least, all problems have been fixed. Lagging and freezing, admin access, etc. Thank you thank you thank you. – thewolfstar Oct 11 '16 at 18:04