12.04 "Failed to load package list" error

[dkreisst]

I'm newish to ubuntu, or at least not learning very fast. Today an icon of a red circle with a white bar through it tells me to check Package Manager. It also tells me the error is "serious". I have no problems otherwise. The error message is:

E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_main_i1 8n_Translation-en, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Package Manager says the same thing.

Should I be worried?

[drmrgd]

This indicates a problem with the apt package list. However, it can easily be fixed by purging it and then updating again. From a terminal window, run this to purge:


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

Then run an update:


sudo apt-get update

That should fix it. If you get more errors, please post them here and we can have a look.

[dkreisst]

Thank you. after the code sudo apt-get update it produced this:

Err http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security InRelease

Err http://security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release.gpg
Could not resolve 'security.ubuntu.com'
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise InRelease

Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates InRelease

Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg
Could not resolve 'us.archive.ubuntu.com'
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release.gpg
Could not resolve 'us.archive.ubuntu.com'
Reading package lists... Done
W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-updates/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-security/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-security/Release.gpg Could not resolve 'security.ubuntu.com'

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/Release.gpg Could not resolve 'us.archive.ubuntu.com'

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-updates/Release.gpg Could not resolve 'us.archive.ubuntu.com'

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


Does that mean it is fixed?

[dkreisst]

Update:

I have the same titled error, but now the details read:

E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-updates_universe_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

[drmrgd]

Hmmm...the first error suggests an internet connectivity issue. Failed to resolve means that it couldn't find that website. Are you behind a proxy, and can you confirm that you have a good internet connection to that computer?

The second is another corrupt MergeList. I'm not sure what's going on here, but first I would sort out the internet connection issue. Then when that's OK, try to remove the broken MergeList with the command I gave above, and then update again.

[dkreisst]

Thank you. The internet connection here is a bit spotty.