Synaptic opens for an instant, then closes [SOLVED]

[slipstick]

When I try to open Synaptic from the menu, I get the box to type in my password. I type in the password, then Synaptic appears to open just for an instant, at least the Synaptic window appears with the framework - I don't think that there is any text in the window, then the window immediately closes. There is no icon in the panel, or any sign I can see that Synaptic is open. Tried rebooting, and opening Synaptic without any other programs open - same thing. This used to work, but it's been a while since I used Synaptic (usually work through mintupdate and Software Manager) and I haven't added any programs lately, so I think the problem may have occurred with one of the updates? Any suggestions for things I can look at to track down this problem?

I'm running LM17, Cinnamon, 64 bit.

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steve@steve-desktop ~ $ inxi -zv7
System:    Host: steve-desktop Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) 
           Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
Machine:   Mobo: Intel model: D925XECV2 version: AAC83685-205
           Bios: Intel version: CV92510A.86A.0338.2004.1012.1817 date: 10/12/2004
CPU:       Single core Intel Pentium 4 CPU (-HT-) cache: 2048 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3) bmips: 6400.38 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 3200.193 MHz 2: 3200.193 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA G84 [GeForce 8400 GS] bus-ID: 01:00.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) Resolution: 1152x864@75.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: GeForce 8400 GS/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 331.113 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network:   Card: Marvell 88E8050 PCI-E ASF Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: sky2 ver: 1.30 port: a800 bus-ID: 04:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           WAN IP: <filter> IF: eth0 ip: <filter> ip-v6: <filter> 
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 900.2GB (3.8% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000AZLX size: 500.1GB serial: WD-WMC3F0925085 
           2: id: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD4000AAKS size: 400.1GB serial: WD-WCAPW2104079 
           Optical: /dev/sr0 model: N/A rev: N/A dev-links: cdrom
           Features: speed: 48x multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r state: N/A
Partition: ID: / size: 22G used: 6.8G (34%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
           label: N/A uuid: 257805a1-5401-47d7-a7f9-d4e1ff15d6c0
           ID: /home size: 8.2G used: 4.4G (57%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
           label: N/A uuid: 93f15b64-cef0-4edd-9707-f68ac39e0d5e
           ID: /home/<filter>/Data size: 92G used: 22G (25%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3 
           label: N/A uuid: 103591f3-d9e8-4b25-b89a-a49672c876d1
           ID: swap-1 size: 4.19GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5 
           label: N/A uuid: 3e511555-1d17-4e1a-99e7-843e9c75453b
RAID:      System: supported: N/A
           No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
           Unused Devices: none
Unmounted: ID: /dev/sr0 size: 1.07G label: N/A uuid: N/A 
           ID: /dev/sr1 size: 1.07G label: N/A uuid: N/A 
           ID: /dev/sdb1 size: 167.77G label: Windows XP Pro uuid: 5460B99960B981F2 
           ID: /dev/sdb2 size: 157.29G label: LM_system_backup uuid: 674b8ab4-8785-4138-a432-21c56d87a43a 
           ID: /dev/sdb3 size: 4.37G label: N/A uuid: 0B33-B668 
Sensors:   None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info:      Processes: 151 Uptime: 17 min Memory: 777.5/2882.2MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

[jimallyn]

Open a terminal and enter:

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sudo synaptic

A lot of times you'll get error messages in the terminal that tells you what's wrong.

[slipstick]

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steve@steve-desktop ~ $ sudo synaptic
[sudo] password for steve: 

(synaptic:4899): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_hide: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

[jimallyn]

Hmmm, that is very similar to the error message I get when I run Synaptic from the terminal, but in my case it starts and runs in spite of the error message. Not sure what to do now, but I suspect somebody more knowledgeable than I will come along with a solution.

[kukamuumuka]

synaptic-pkexec command does not work. Use gksu synaptic command in the launcher.

[slipstick]

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steve@steve-desktop ~ $ gksu synaptic
steve@steve-desktop ~ $ 

After I typed gksu synaptic and then typed in my password as requested, the synaptic window appeared for just a second then disappeared just like when I launched it from the menu. There was a two or three second pause after the synaptic window disappeared, then the command prompt appeared, and as you can see, there were no error messages.

[BlackVeils]

i had this same problem a week ago or something, things got really crazy.

do the usual of trying to open synaptic, then run the command:

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dmesg

the last couple of lines will be relevant to the issue, so copy-paste them here.

[kukamuumuka]

Try

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sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get update

[slipstick]

i had this same problem a week ago or something, things got really crazy.

do the usual of trying to open synaptic, then run the command:

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dmesg

the last couple of lines will be relevant to the issue, so copy-paste them here.

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[ 8417.822351] PM: Finishing wakeup.
[ 8417.822354] Restarting tasks ... done.
[ 9075.108305] python[6720]: segfault at 7fc0d8c43ac4 ip 00007fb57216794f sp 00007fff1f4d18b0 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[7fb57210b000+145000]
[ 9371.553635] synaptic[6779]: segfault at 7fff6bea5ac4 ip 00007ff4159a994f sp 00007fff6feb07e0 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[7ff41594d000+145000]
[ 9379.916307] update-apt-xapi[6787]: segfault at 7ff33cb50ac4 ip 00007fe7d6c3194f sp 00007fffb16cbbc0 error 4 in libapt-pkg.so.4.12.0[7fe7d6bd5000+145000]

[BlackVeils]

mine was asegfault error 6 with libapt, yours is error 4 but also libapt. I don't really know what it means but I ran commands including what administrollaattori posted for you, and it began the fix.

[slipstick]

Try

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sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get update

I entered the first command and it executed OK. Then I entered the second command "sudo apt-get -f install" and it started then it hung with ... 50% displayed at the end of the line. I never got another command prompt, so finally closed the terminal. Don't know whether to try again or continue with the rest of the commands.

[slipstick]

I opened the "Software Sources" utility from the menu, clicked on "Fix Merge List Problems", then on "Update the Cache" or whatever the exact name is on that button, and apparently that fixed the problem - synaptic works again, so I'm marking this Solved.