[SOLVED] Cannot update or install programs through synaptic

[deepla]

Hi ,
I am new to Ubuntu and i have recently installed karmic on my laptop. Initially i was not able to connect to net through firefox but after googling around i found i needed to disable ipv6 in firefox. It is working well now. I also had disabled ipv6 globally as suggested by some threads. However i am not able to install any packages or programs through synaptic or software centre. Synaptic does not reload the packages and gives the following message after waiting to download files for a long time

untu/dists/karmic/Release.gpg.
Failed to fetch .,://archive.ubuntu./ubuntu/dists/karmic/main/i18n/Translation-en_IN.bz2.
Failed to fetch .,://archive.ubuntu./ubuntu/dists/karmic/restricted/i18n/Translation-en_IN.bz2.
Failed to fetch .,://archive.ubuntu./ubuntu/dists/karmic/universe/i18n/Translation-en_IN.bz2.

(The above links are modified as i am not allowed to post links unless i am 15 posts)

If i try to download after selecting it just wait for a long time showing 'downloading file 1 of total ( some number )' and stops to give the following message (for example )

W: Failed to fetch .,://archive.ubuntu./ubuntu/pool/main/p/pmake/pmake_1.111-1build2_i386.deb.

Some suggested to change the server and i did this several times but no use. I dont think it is a problem with the server as i am able to download the deb files if i paste the link in firefox. I even installed skype like this by individually downloading the packages but i this is very tiresome as you can imagine. Skype is working perfectly. I am also not able to update. Update manager gives the list of packages to download but does not download them.

I have gone back to ipv6 ( not in firefox ) thinking this may solve it. I am able to install all programs without program in my father's comp which uses same server (main server) but different internet connection. When i was using ubuntu9.04 there was no problem.

I asked in the official ubuntu forum but no help.

I use acer laptop 1641Nwlmi M725 pentium intel 1.6 GHz, 512 MB ram, intel graphics media accelerator 900

Can any body please help ?

[L4Linux]

Do you connect through a proxy?

[deepla]

No I dont use a proxy
It is a broad band connection. Do you want more details ? I don't know much about the internet connection settings but i can try to find out my specifications if you can guide me

[elija]

Not necessarily. When updates are made available, the repository owner is supposed to fetch them in a manner that ensure that the packages are actually on their server before they advertise them in the new package list file - this does not always happen. Wait a day or two for the repository to actually "catch up" and get all the updated files and you will probably find that all the errors go away.

People who experience this problem should contact the repository owner and ask them to follow the specific instructions on how to update correctly (which are provided by Ubuntu on their repository site) if you like, it may help in future.

Also, as you can download them manually, it might be worth trying the following

Open a terminal and run the following commands

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get clean

[deepla]

I tried your suggestion of apt-get. It did not work. The error message was something like

Err - file name.gpg- could not connect to archive - server name or link name - connection timed out.

I did the other two commands. It seemed to execute that.
I have been having this problem for the last 1 month. So can this problem be due to the repostitories not being updated? Besides i am not able to update from the other servers.

One more thing, when i installed from (pen drive) it did show a warning that apt configuration could not install additional packages from the cd. I clicked ok and the installation was completed. When i installed in another computer i had the same error message but it does not seem to have a problem in updating or downloading programs

Should i disable ipv6 globaly ? It did not seem to help .

[devils casper]

Post the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list file here.

* Urls in new member's (having less than 15 posts) posts are not allowed. Attach sources.list file here instead of posting its contents.

[deepla]

Contents of /etc/apt/sources.list

Since i am not able to post urls, I have removed http and com from the links given below. Hope this does not confuse you

# See ://help.ubuntu./community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb ://archive.ubuntu./ubuntu/ karmic main restricted
deb-src ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic restricted main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-updates main restricted
deb-src ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-updates restricted main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties

## 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 ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic universe
deb ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-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 ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic multiverse
deb ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-updates multiverse

## Un ment 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 ://in.archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src ://in.archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Un ment 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 ://archive.canonical. /ubuntu karmic partner
deb-src ://archive.canonical. /ubuntu karmic partner

deb ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-security main restricted
deb-src ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-security restricted main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties
deb ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-security universe
deb ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-security multiverse


deb ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-proposed restricted main multiverse universe
deb-src ://archive.ubuntu. /ubuntu/ karmic-proposed restricted main multiverse universe

[deepla]

Sorry i did not see the note you have added , casper. I am adding the output as attachment as you suggested

[devils casper]

Contents of sources.list file are correct but I would suggest you to try new sources. Generate a new sources list from here.
Rename sources.list file and create new.

cd /etc/apt
sudo mv sources.list sources.list.original
exit

Press Alt+F2 and type this

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

It will open new, blank sources.list file in Gedit with root privileges. Paste/Type contents of generated sources.list and save file.
Execute this in Terminal

sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get update

[deepla]

Hi Casper,
I did what you told. But sadly it is still not updating. I am getting .....

0% [Connecting to archive.ubuntu.com (1.0.0.0)] [Connecting to archive.canonica
then failed to fetch..... link