Software center and synaptic not working

[marimari]

Hi,

I installed Ubuntu in my asus eeepc and, after some months of use, both synaptic and software center stopped working. When I give the command sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade, this is what I get:
Malformed line 59 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list (dist parse)
E: The list of sources could not be read.
And then:

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 11.04 _Natty Narwhal_ - Release i386 (20110427.1)]/ natty main restricted

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty-security multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu natty partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu natty partner

## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
## developers who want to ship their latest software.
deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty main
deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty main
deb http://archive.canonical.com/lucid partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/lucid partner

Can someone help me?? I'm an absolute beginner! Thanks a lot!

[sanderd17]

Line 59 is the second-last line. And if you look carefully, you see that a space is missing. The line should be



deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner


just as the last line is also missing a space.

Try to change that by editing the file


sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list


If that doesn't work, try puttin a #-symbol in front of those lines to comment those out.

[marimari]

Hi,

I tried both ways (space and #). It seems to work at first, but there is an error. This is what I get:

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Could not open file /var/lib/dpkg/status - open (2: No such file or directory)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

[oldos2er]

You're running Natty? You should remove the last two "lucid" lines, since mixing repositories from different distros can cause problems.
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list When done run
sudo apt-get update and if there are still errors please post them here.