Software Index is Broken
 

Registered: Jan 2010
Location: Indiana
Distribution: Ubuntu Karmic 9.10
Posts: 1
Thanked: 0

Software Index is Broken - I keep getting the same message. Help!
I installed Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 on my HP Pavilion DV9000 two days ago. I had used used version 9.04 before, so am somewhat familiar with Linux, although by no means any type of expert, just a user. When I installed it on this system, it won't let me install any software or plugins and keeps giving me this message:

Software Index is Broken
This is a major failure of your software management system. Please check for broken packages with synaptic, check the file permissions and correctness of the file '/etc/apt/sources.list' and reload the software information with: 'sudo apt-get update' and 'sudo apt-get install -f'.

So I do that & this is what I get! I put a space into all of the ubuntu links so that this forum would allow me to paste my terminal results here. It wouldn't let me post links. What do I do??? I run two businesses on this thing and can't do hardly anything with it! Can someone PLEASE HELP???

sallie@Sallie:~$ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for sallie:
Get:1 http: //archive.canonical.com karmic Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http: //archive.canonical.com karmic/partner Translation-en_US
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic Release.gpg
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Translation-en_US
Get:2 http: //archive.canonical.com karmic Release [9,347B]
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates Release.gpg
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security Release.gpg
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security/main Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security/multiverse Translation-en_US
Get:3 http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed/main Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed/multiverse Translation-en_US
Ign http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed/universe Translation-en_US
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic Release
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates Release
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security Release
Get:4 http: //archive.canonical.com karmic/partner Packages [2,260B]
Get:5 http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed Release [44.1kB]
Get:6 http: //archive.canonical.com karmic/partner Sources [1,385B]
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/restricted Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/multiverse Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/main Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/restricted Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/universe Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/multiverse Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security/main Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security/restricted Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security/universe Packages
Hit http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-security/multiverse Packages
Get:7 http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed/restricted Packages [14B]
Get:8 http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed/main Packages [27.3kB]
Get:9 http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed/multiverse Packages [811B]
Get:10 http: //us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-proposed/universe Packages [21.0kB]
Fetched 106kB in 5s (21.0kB/s)
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Read error - read (5: Input/output error)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
sallie@Sallie:~$

did you run "apt-get -f install"?

Also, what did you do/install on your system between when it was ok and when you started getting errors?

What is the output of:
?

Evo2.

PS. I replied to your other thread, please use this one from now on.

/var/lib/dpkg/status: UTF-8 Unicode English text, with very long lines
 

Thank you SOOO much for replying!! Yes, I did run that, but got the same response. Here is what you suggested. what does that mean?

sallie@Sallie:~$ file /var/lib/dpkg/status
/var/lib/dpkg/status: UTF-8 Unicode English text, with very long lines
sallie@Sallie:~$

Please answer my other question.

Evo2.

What I did before it happened
 

Oh, sorry, I didn't answer you completely. I had been having a problem with my internal internet device being disabled in Ubuntu 9.04, also my mouse wouldn't work. I tried everything, then completely wiped my system by doing a complete install of Ubuntu 9.10. This happened from the beginning. I tried to download software and it began. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with me!

Hmm, tricky.

Please run the following command and post the output
.. I suspect it may return an error.

Evo2.

Weird response, I think.
 

This is what it gave me.

sallie@Sallie:~$ dpkg -l | tail
dpkg-query: failed in buffer_read(fd): copy info file `/var/lib/dpkg/status': Input/output error
sallie@Sallie:~$

Thank you so much for your help. Sallie

Ok it looks like /var/lib/dpkg/status file might have been corrupted. There may be a backup file called "/var/lib/dpkg/status-old". If this backup file exists please do the following.

This will make a backup of the current file and replace it with the old one.

After doing the above, please check to see if you problem is fixed.

Evo2.

Is this what my first step was supposed to be?
 

sallie@Sallie:~$ /var/lib/dpkg/status-old
bash: /var/lib/dpkg/status-old: Permission denied
sallie@Sallie:~$

Sorry, please post the output of
That will tell us if the file exists and at the same time we can see what else is there.

Evo2.

Thank you! I feel hopeful now!
 

What next?

sallie@Sallie:~$ ls -l /var/lib/dpkg
total 5176
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-01-17 01:49 alternatives
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1216248 2010-01-17 20:03 available
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1216248 2010-01-17 20:03 available-old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8 2010-01-17 01:23 cmethopt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 338 2010-01-17 01:48 diversions
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 407 2010-01-17 01:48 diversions-old
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 253952 2010-01-17 20:03 info
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 2010-01-17 20:03 lock
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2009-09-20 04:24 parts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 2010-01-17 01:42 statoverride
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 30 2010-01-17 01:41 statoverride-old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1282626 2010-01-17 20:03 status
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1282625 2010-01-17 20:03 status-old
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-01-17 01:47 triggers
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-01-17 20:03 updates
sallie@Sallie:~$

Ok, status-old is there, but it only differs by one byte from status.
Hopefully that one byte makes all the difference.
Before moving the files, please run the following command and post the output so we can see how they differ:

Evo2

Does this help??
 

sallie@Sallie:~$ diff /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status-old
diff: /var/lib/dpkg/status: Input/output error
sallie@Sallie:~$

Hmm, there is something really screwy with that file. Ok, please go ahead and replace it with the status-old. Here are the instructions again.

Evo2.

You are amazing!!! You fixed it! It works!
 

You will never know how grateful I am for your help. I appreciate it so much! I hope to be able to keep in contact with you. Maybe someday there will be something NOT computer related that I could help you with. God bless you!! LOL!! Sallie