Update lists not working

[glin22]

Hi folks,

There is some kind of problem happening when I try to update...I get the following errors -

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Problem parsing dependency Breaks
E: Error occurred while processing samba-libs (NewVersion2)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/dpkg/status
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

I tried removing the old lists by doing -

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
sudo apt-get update

so the cache would update but I still get the above errors, I tried rebooting a bunch of times but that didn't help either.

Any ideas on this ?

glin22

[glin22]

Sorry, I forgot to say that I am using LL 2.8.

Glin22

[torreydale]

Go to Software and Updates and select a different update server.  Then rerun the Install Updates utility.

[glin22]

Thanks for your reply, Torreydale.

I tried your suggestion but after doing that it says "couldn't fetch the package cache information lists"

Glin22

[torreydale]

Did you click on Select Best Server, Save, and then Reload? 
Have you tried rebooting? 
When you ran the following what was the output of sudo apt-get update?

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
sudo apt-get update

[anon222]

Hm, looks like /var/lib/dpkg/status got messed up
There are backups of this file
To list the backups use

Code:

ls -l /var/backups/dpkg.status.*

Now copy /var/backups/dpkg.status.0 to /var/lib/dpkg/status

Code:

sudo cp /var/backups/dpkg.status.0 /var/lib/dpkg/status

And try to run the updates.

If that doesn't help try to use the other backup files
but as you see the files are compressed

Code:

ls  /var/backups/dpkg.status.*
/var/backups/dpkg.status.0     /var/backups/dpkg.status.4.gz
/var/backups/dpkg.status.1.gz  /var/backups/dpkg.status.5.gz
/var/backups/dpkg.status.2.gz  /var/backups/dpkg.status.6.gz
/var/backups/dpkg.status.3.gz

so you have to unpack them first
For example /var/backups/dpkg.status.1.gz

Code:

sudo gunzip /var/backups/dpkg.status.1.gz

Then you can copy to /var/lib/dpkg/status

Code:

sudo cp /var/backups/dpkg.status.1 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Hope this helps 

[glin22]

Did you click on Select Best Server, Save, and then Reload? 
Have you tried rebooting? 
When you ran the following what was the output of sudo apt-get update?

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
sudo apt-get update

I tried a number of different servers, tried to update but then it gives me "Failed to load the package list, this is a serious problem, try again later, If this problem appears again, please report an error to the developers"

Yes, I have tried reboots but nothing changes.

The output of sudo apt-get update after I remove the lists is exactly the same error as I mentioned in the very first post of this thread.

Thanks for trying to help though !

Glin22

[glin22]

Hm, looks like /var/lib/dpkg/status got messed up
There are backups of this file
To list the backups use

Code:

ls -l /var/backups/dpkg.status.*

Now copy /var/backups/dpkg.status.0 to /var/lib/dpkg/status

Code:

sudo cp /var/backups/dpkg.status.0 /var/lib/dpkg/status

And try to run the updates.

If that doesn't help try to use the other backup files
but as you see the files are compressed

Code:

ls  /var/backups/dpkg.status.*
/var/backups/dpkg.status.0     /var/backups/dpkg.status.4.gz
/var/backups/dpkg.status.1.gz  /var/backups/dpkg.status.5.gz
/var/backups/dpkg.status.2.gz  /var/backups/dpkg.status.6.gz
/var/backups/dpkg.status.3.gz

so you have to unpack them first
For example /var/backups/dpkg.status.1.gz

Code:

sudo gunzip /var/backups/dpkg.status.1.gz

Then you can copy to /var/lib/dpkg/status

Code:

sudo cp /var/backups/dpkg.status.1 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Hope this helps 

Thanks a bunch for your ideas and taking the time to help me !

I got an error when I tried your suggestion, it said no such file exists, so I took a peek at /var/backups/    there are no files there whatsoever, I wonder if the best thing is for me to reinstall to set things straight ? It does seem a shame though to have to go through all of that again. I can get into a terminal on the machine but when I try to use either firefox or chrome, they don't work correctly, that is how the system stands right now. I can't get anything cleared up because I can't do any updates. If you have any other ideas on how I can correct my problem without reinstalling, let me know.

Glin22

[torreydale]

The following is taken from this link:

It seems like your /var/lib/dpkg/status file is corrupted. So try to replace the current status file with the old one.
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.bak
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status

If the above doesn't work, do a web search on "Error occurred while processing samba-libs (NewVersion2)" to see what you get.

[glin22]

The following is taken from this link:

It seems like your /var/lib/dpkg/status file is corrupted. So try to replace the current status file with the old one.
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.bak
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status

If the above doesn't work, do a web search on "Error occurred while processing samba-libs (NewVersion2)" to see what you get.

Ooooh doggie ! I did your procedure and am back in business !! Machine seems to be working fine now, did a bunch of updates, everything went through well !! Glad I didn't have to go through the whole install process all over again !

Thanks for the tip and to all of the folks who gave help.

Glin22