[TYPO3-english] problem update to 7.6.16

["HocomAdvies [  Wiechert Hooghwinkel]

Hi,

I run into a strange problem when updating an 7.6.10 version with TV to the latest 7.6.16 version. 

When performing the update wizard, it hangs up on the latest d-base update:

ALTER TABLE index_rel CHANGE first first int(11) unsigned NOT NULL default '0'; 
Current value: tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL default '0'                 

Resulting in an error:

PHP Warning: mysqli::query(): MySQL server has gone away in /usr/share/typo3_src-7.6.16/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Database/DatabaseConnection.php line 480


When I go into: the extension manager I get the same message when trying to “Get extensions” 

Having a look at the pages in the page tree resulting in an error telling me the:

Calculated absolute path to typo3/sysext directory does not exist.

Might as well be related to the query? 


How to deal with this? 
I did not install the compatibility extension when the update wizard ask for. Would it be a solution having that installed?
Is there a way running the wizard again? I remember from older versons that it could be done by altering a file?

Any idea how to get this going again? Thanks


Best Regards,
HocomAdvies

Wiechert Hooghwinkel