sudo dpkg --configure -a not resolving blocking of synaptic & updating

[m654321]

It's happened again!!! All the advice above in this thread didn't work as before.
It seems to be a weakness of LL on setup(1) in sig, though I'm now just running LL3.2 as a single OS on its own.
Locked out of synaptic, light tweaks (kernel removal & autoremove) & install updates... >

Ran sudo dpkg --configure -a, and this is what I got as before (except the kernel involved is a later version than before):

Code:

mike@mike-G750JS:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
[sudo] password for mike:
Setting up linux-headers-4.4.0-51-generic (4.4.0-51.72) ...
Examining /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms 4.4.0-51-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-51-generic

Stuck on the last line - how long should I wait if it's going to do anything at all? How patient should I be?!

When I try to open Synaptic I get this error message as before & can't go further with this notification appearing:

Code:

E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

I run sudo dpkg --configure -a numerous times, but to no avail, as before

uname -a gives the following:

Code:

mike@mike-G750JS:~$ uname -a
Linux mike-G750JS 4.4.0-47-generic #68-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 26 19:39:52 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

...so I tried to use Lite Tweaks/Kernel Removal, to removal kernel 4.4.0-51 which is listed there but I get this message when I attempt a clean:

Code:

Kernel Cleaner has failed

I'm wasting a lot of time on this - I'd be really grateful if anyone could help, even if we have to go down the 'Teamviewer' route though that will take a bit of organisation given time zones & people's busy lives. I'm pretty much at my wits end with this problem as it's wasting so much time which I haven't got. I 'solved' the problem the first time by doing a clean-install of LL but I can't keep doing this...

The cause of the problem was likely to be my fault - I may have inadvertently interrupted 'Install Updates' (which in turn interrupted the kernel update) when I turned off my PC.  I think there needs to be some visible sign that updates are being installed rather than it disappearing off screen into the background only reappearing with a notification when it's completed...

Sorry to be a pain again, with this.
Mike