Appliance not starting after reboot because of failed update

david_plesnik — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 12:16:29 GMT

Summary

When the Runecast Web interface is stuck on the loading page after the appliance is rebooted, it is likely because of an interrupted update. This article explains how to diagnose and remediate this issue.

Problem

Every time the Runecast Analyzer instance boots, the autoupdate service checks for available updates. If necessary, it then performs the update using the dpkg software package. If the update process is interrupted by a reboot, the dpkg process is improperly terminated and will block any subsequent execution of the dpkg command.

Troubleshooting steps

When this happens, the Runecast Web interface is stuck on the loading page:

To confirm that this is caused by a failed update, SSH into your Runecast appliance and look for this entry in /var/log/runecast/rcupdate.log:

2025-09-08 18:27:15 Auto update started by RCAsplice (Auto Update during system boot)
run-parts: executing /opt/runecast/scripts/pre-update.d/10-setaptconf
Preparing apt configuration...
Updates repository url - https://updates.runecast.com/runecast-analyzer-vmware
run-parts: executing /opt/runecast/scripts/pre-update.d/20-checkupdates
Checking updates availability...
Hit:1 https://updates.runecast.com/runecast-analyzer-vmware  InRelease
Reading package lists...
Updates are found
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
Setting up runecast-utils (6.9.15.1-rc1) ...

Resolution

1. SSH into your Runecast appliance

2. Terminate the running dpkg process:

sudo killall dpkg

3. Configure any software packages that were left in an incomplete state due to the interruption:

sudo dpkg --configure -a
Then follow the on-screen instructions

4. Verify that there are no packages in an incomplete state:

dpkg -l | grep -v 'ii'
The output should contain only the header of the table without the names of packages.

5. Restart the update process by launching the update script:

sudo /opt/runecast/scripts/rcupdate.sh

6. Wait for the update to finish. This will be confirmed in the output with the Auto update finishedmessage.

7. Reboot the VM:

sudo reboot

What's next

If this article did not help, please email support@runecast.com to open a support ticket, mention that this article was used, and include

A detailed issue description and
screenshots.