synaptic didnt work, nor did apt tools on pclinuxos thinkpad t22
 

to all who can help,
i recently installed pclinuxos on an ol thinkpad t22 and decided to get some packages with synaptic. when it finished the download it said "E: something RPM database. then i tried using apt tools to search for the same packedge for re download. here is what it said in konsole:

[root@localhost ~]# search
bash: search: command not found
[root@localhost ~]# apt-cache search
rpmdb: PANIC: fatal region error detected; run recovery
error: db4 error(-30974) from dbenv->open: DB_RUNRECOVERY: Fatal error, run database recovery
error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - (-30974)
error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm
E: could not open RPM database
[root@localhost ~]#

i was trying to get the app WINE. any help would be appreciated. i am still kind of new to linux so any other advice regarding packages would be of help.

try to kill the process if its still running then type :
rm /var/lib/rpm/__*
rpm --rebuilddb

i tried what you said but i may have done it wrong. here is what i got:

[root@localhost ~]# rm /var/lib/rpm/__*
rm: remove regular file `/var/lib/rpm/__db.001'? rpm -rebuilddb
rm: remove regular file `/var/lib/rpm/__db.002'? y
rm: remove regular file `/var/lib/rpm/__db.003'? y
[root@localhost ~]# rpm -rebuilddb
rpmdb: PANIC: fatal region error detected; run recovery
error: db4 error(-30974) from dbenv->open: DB_RUNRECOVERY: Fatal error, run database recovery
error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - (-30974)
[root@localhost ~]#

so did i really screw up? this jargon means nothing to me.
i tried research for this topic and did what the website said(http://www.rpm.org/hintskinks/repairdb/) and i got this:

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -vv --rebuilddb
D: rebuilding database /var/lib/rpm into /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.9128
D: creating directory /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.9128
D: opening old database with dbapi 3
D: opening db environment /var/lib/rpm/Packages mpool:joinenv
rpmdb: PANIC: fatal region error detected; run recovery
error: db4 error(-30974) from dbenv->open: DB_RUNRECOVERY: Fatal error, run database recovery
D: opening db index /var/lib/rpm/Packages rdonly mode=0x0
error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - (-30974)
D: removing directory /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.9128
[root@localhost ~]#

now i got this in konsole after putting in the correct command
rpm -vv --rebuilddb

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -vv --rebuilddb
D: rebuilding database /var/lib/rpm into /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.3664
D: creating directory /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.3664
D: opening old database with dbapi 3
D: opening db environment /var/lib/rpm/Packages mpool:joinenv
D: opening db index /var/lib/rpm/Packages rdonly mode=0x0
D: locked db index /var/lib/rpm/Packages
D: opening new database with dbapi 3
D: opening db environment /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.3664/Packages create:mpool:joinenv
D: opening db index /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.3664/Packages create mode=0x42
D: closed db index /var/lib/rpm/Packages
D: closed db environment /var/lib/rpm/Packages
D: closed db index /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.3664/Packages
D: closed db environment /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.3664/Packages
D: verified db index /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.3664/Packages
D: removing directory /var/lib/rpmrebuilddb.3664
[root@localhost ~]#


so whats going on?
tried downloading something else in synaptic, it says something like apt ordering failed when it gets to the applying changes part.