Updated Linux w/ OO open and cannot use now

[Humhill]

Hi, Would appreciate some help with this. Linux updated this morning and I didn't realize OO was open with a document I was working on. Now I cannot open OO or any of my existing saved documents. I am pretty ignorant with computer issues so if anyone can be of help please give me some pretty basic steps and concepts...
Thanks very much!
Humhill

[peterroots]

a Linux update running while a OOo is open should not be a problem so the fact you can't open may be that the update did not work properly or some other issue occurred.
Try redoing the update - you don't mention the version of linux you are using but if it is debian based (ubuntu, mint, debian etc) can be updated by opening a terminal (or konsole) and typing
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
then enter your password (won't look like you are entering anything)
(not sure on this for red hat based systems like red had, mandriva, suse etc)
If that does not work try resetting your OOo (or is it really LO?) profile
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?p=58403 or
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/UserProfile
if that fails install something else and try to open your documents with that - if you are using KDE then maybe try Koffice if you use Gnome then maybe try Abiword and Gnumeric just to see if the documents you have are still usable.
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Kubuntu 11.10 LibreOffice3.4.4

[Humhill]

Sorry; not even sure what to ask or provide. Thanks for your info and here's some more that may help. I have Ubuntu. The update was interrupted; we have been getting dumped offline a lot and they are trying to fix it. I cannot find the way to try update again or to bring the system back to pre-interrupted update. When I try to open existing OOo files I get a message; "Unable to open document File type OLE2 compound document storage (application/x-ole-storage) is not supported"
Sorry; totally useless at this stuff and this is a computer that they set up for me at a previous job and then allowed me to buy it when I left. I have never had to problem solve anything on it in over a year and can't find a darn thing on it.

[peterroots]

Ok that could explain it if things got part way through.
There are many ways to try and fix this and the ones using the graphical interface will vary a bit depending on which version of Ubuntu you are using. I will therefore go through doing this using the command line.
You need to open a terminal (may be called gnome-terminal or just terminal). Try to press the alt key and at the same time press function key 2 (the one with f2 on it). This should open a black window labelled terminal or gnome terminal. (if this does not work try finding Applications->accessories->Terminal)
in the terminal type the following all on one line followed by the enter key
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
you should be asked for your password - type it in (but you will not see * or any other indication of characters you are entering) then press enter.
Your system should now get fully updated
When this has finished, give openoffice a try again.
if it still does not work try entering this in a terminal, followed by enter (and enter your password if asked for it)
sudo dpkg --configure -a
This should repair any broken packages from an incomplete installation or upgrade

Please note between apt and get, as in apt-get, this is a hyphen. Same before the a (as in -a) and --configure is two hyphens.
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Kubuntu 11.10 LibreOffice3.4.4