Update manager not updating 12.04

**Yash Pal** · December 29th, 2012

OS -12.04 dual boot with windows 7
Laptop - Dell M5010

When I run the Update manager, the message is:

The package information was last updated 64 days ago. (It started with 4 days and has progressed)
Press the 'Check' button below to check for new software updates.

After pressing the 'Check' button, this is the message:

Failed to download repository information
Check your Internet connection.

And these are the details:
W:Failed to fetch http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/...recise/Release Unable to find expected entry 'main'/source/Sources' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...curity/Release Unable to find expected entry 'main'/binary-i386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

, W:Failed to fetch http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/...pdates/Release Unable to find expected entry 'main'/binary-i386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

, W:Failed to fetch http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/...kports/Release Unable to find expected entry 'main'/binary-i386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

, E:Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

However, sometimes the update manager also shows that some updates are there, along with the messages above and those updates can be installed. Could anyone tell me why the update manager is behaving like this (Downgrade manager?) and if there is any remedy.

The same errors are shown when I use terminal and "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade"

**ibjsb4** · December 29th, 2012

Please post the output of:

Code:

cat -n /etc/apt/sources.list

**grahammechanical** · December 29th, 2012

There is a command you can try.

Code:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -rf

follow that with

Code:

sudo apt-get update

The first command removes/deletes all the sources scripts/files in the lists folder.

The second command will replace those scripts. This works. I had to do it some months ago when I was unable to update because one of those files had a missing header.

The scripts in the lists folder contain information about all the packages installed. Update Manager compares the information in those scripts with the information in the repositories to work out which packages on the machine can be updated.

It seems that if there is something wrong with those scripts then Update Manager will not update.

Another reason for this problem could be at the other end, in the repositories themselves. When that happens it usually get put right in a couple of days.

Regards.

**Yash Pal** · December 30th, 2012

Thanks for guiding me

I first tried suggestion of 'grahammechanical', after:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -rfand entering password for sudo, there was nothing, as generally linux works silently.

Then sudo apt-get update was entered and after 45 to 50 lines of messages, (fetched.... in... seconds at end) the same error message was displayed:

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...curity/Release Unable to find expected entry 'main'/binary-i386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)
...........
..............
..................
............
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
yashpal@yashpal-Inspiron-M5010:~$ ^C
yashpal@yashpal-Inspiron-M5010:~$

The output of command

cat -n /etc/apt/sources.list is given below in separate reply

**Yash Pal** · December 30th, 2012

As per suggestion of 'ibjsb4' , the output of
cat -n /etc/apt/sources.list
is given below:
yashpal@yashpal-Inspiron-M5010:~$ sudo cat -n /etc/apt/sources.list
1 # deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.10 _Quantal Quetzal_ - Release amd64 (20121017.5)]/ quantal main restricted
2 # deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.10 _Quantal Quetzal_ - Release amd64 (20121017.5)]/ quantal main restricted
3
4 # See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
5 # newer versions of the distribution.
6 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
7 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
8
9 ## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
10 ## distribution.
11 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates restricted main main'
12 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted
13
14 ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
15 ## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
16 ## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
17 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
18 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
19 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe
20 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe
21
22 ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
23 ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
24 ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
25 ## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
26 ## security team.
27 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
28 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
29 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse
30 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse
31
32 ## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
33 ## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
34 ## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
35 ## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
36 ## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
37 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports restricted main' main multiverse universe
38 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse
39
40 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted
41 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted
42 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security universe
43 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security universe
44 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security multiverse
45 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security multiverse
46
47 ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
48 ## 'partner' repository.
49 ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
50 ## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
51 deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner
52 # deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu oneiric partner
53
54 ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
55 ## developers who want to ship their latest software.
56 deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
57 deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric main
58 # deb http://archive.canonical.com/ natty partner
59 deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ natty partner
60 deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main'
61 deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main'
62 deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security restricted main' main multiverse universe
yashpal@yashpal-Inspiron-M5010:~$

Password for sudo was not asked as both the above suggestions were completed in about 5 minutes

**ibjsb4** · December 30th, 2012

52 # deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu oneiric partner
57 deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric main
58 # deb http://archive.canonical.com/ natty partner
59 deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ natty partner

These four lines need to be removed, they are not part of precise 12.04 sources. So again open a terminal and enter:

Code:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Remove them then try another update.

Also please use code tags in the future, its easier on the eyes. Just highlight what you want in code tags and #.

Code:

yashpal@yashpal-Inspiron-M5010:~$ sudo cat -n /etc/apt/sources.list
     1    # deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.10 _Quantal Quetzal_ - Release amd64 (20121017.5)]/ quantal main restricted
     2    # deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.10 _Quantal Quetzal_ - Release amd64 (20121017.5)]/ quantal main restricted
     3    
     4    # See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
     5    # newer versions of the distribution.
     6    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
     7    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
     8    
     9    ## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
    10    ## distribution.
    11    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates restricted main main'
    12    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted
    13    
    14    ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
    15    ## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
    16    ## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
    17    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
    18    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
    19    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe
    20    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe
    21    
    22    ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu  
    23    ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to  
    24    ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in  
    25    ## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
    26    ## security team.
    27    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
    28    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
    29    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse
    30    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse
    31    
    32    ## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
    33    ## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
    34    ## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
    35    ## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
    36    ## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
    37    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports restricted main' main multiverse universe
    38    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    39    
    40    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted
    41    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted
    42    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security universe
    43    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security universe
    44    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security multiverse
    45    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security multiverse
    46    
    47    ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
    48    ## 'partner' repository.
    49    ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
    50    ## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
    51    deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner
    52    # deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu oneiric partner
    53    
    54    ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
    55    ## developers who want to ship their latest software.
    56    deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
    57    deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric main
    58    # deb http://archive.canonical.com/ natty partner
    59    deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ natty partner
    60    deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main'
    61    deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main'
    62    deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security restricted main' main multiverse universe
yashpal@yashpal-Inspiron-M5010:~$

Screenshot from 2012-12-29 20:59:45.png

**Yash Pal** · December 30th, 2012

Thanks ibjsb4
I do not know how to remove those 4 lines from the file; in fact I do not know how to enter the OS files. (though I was using Ctrl+ Alt +F1 to F7 about 10 - 12yrs back)
Anyway, it is not your headache and I will try to find out how to carry out the task.
I am also thankful for telling me how to use code tags (I did not know this).
As use of Linux spreads among the population at large (Non IT people), 99% of users will be like me. ( who cannot edit/ modify system files.)
Since the system has not broken down, I will do a DVD install of 12.10 or 13.04 when required.
Thanks once again.

**ibjsb4** · December 30th, 2012

You came here looking for a fix and the fix is not that hard. Why not finish what you started and fix it? If my instructions are not clear, please ask questions.

**Yash Pal** · December 31st, 2012

ibjsb4
Please do not take my remarks amiss. I have already said that I will keep learning how to enter the system files. It may not be difficult but there is no environment here (in my place) for learning Linux, unlike for Windows - for which you will find a fellow at each street corner. Whatever I know is totally self taught; in the process I have also sent into oblivion one PC already.

If I had not joined any forum, I don't think I could have learnt anything substantial. I have copied the procedure you gave. Please keep helping others.

**Yash Pal** · December 31st, 2012

ibjsb4
Please do not take my remarks amiss. I have already said that I will keep learning how to enter the system files. It may not be difficult but there is no environment here (in my place) for learning Linux, unlike for Windows - for which you will find a fellow at every street corner. Whatever I know is totally self taught; in the process I have also sent into oblivion one PC already.

If I had not joined any forum, I don't think I could have learnt anything substantial. I have copied the procedure you gave. Please keep helping others. People from halfway round the world have been helping. Not every body would be like me.