Update Manager - Unable to update or upgrade
 

When trying to use the Update Manager to Update or Upgrade my system I get the following error:

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_raring-updates_universe_i18n_Translation-en%5fAU
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

I tried using the Terminal to manually update, same problem, then tried thje Synaptic Software Manager and again got the same problem. Can anybody help ?

What version of Linux are you running, and are you sure it has not passed its support end-of-life date?

Set your sources list to the next lts version and try again. if not you will have to use the archives repos. and work your way back. TAKES FOREVER!! Probably easier to backup data and important files to do a reinstall.

Thanks for the replies. My system is currently LinuxMint 15: Olivia (x86-64) Version 1.8.8 running on an ASUS Laptop with a Pentium CPU B960 @ 2.20GHZ x 2. I tried a new install, however, I am still having the same problem. I have the machine partitioned and run Windows 7 as well, could this be the proble ? Should I go for a full reload and run Linux only ? I'm new to this, am not a computer wizz and struggle a bit. I really appreciate your help Thanks.

It is usually fairly straightforward to run Mint and Windows in dual boot, and I think Mint 15 is still supported (you could check on that in the Mint forum).

If you run
you'll get a report in human-readable terms of the partitions you have set up. That might help you make sure all is as you wanted it to be.

Thanks, I will try that. If that fails I'm going to reload the latest Mint 16 and dump Windows. Thanks for your help.

I had the same problem with Ubuntu. I had to manually run the update process as root. Can't exactly remember how I did it but it was something like sudo get-apt upgrade. Like I said not sure the exact command. If someone else can comment on this it would be best.

I realized that the update process was no longer sitting on the application bar every now and then. I suspect something shut off the auto update process. Anymore when something wierd and unexplained happens I have to wonder if some nefarious entity got access to my system- If you know what I mean.

Fusionstate.

You may try checking the Linux Mint site to ensure that your sources.list file is up to date. The solution may be as simple as adding a repository or PPA (may just need to unhash a line in the sources.list file).