Am online can browse but package managers cannot download anything

Hi.

Can you check you have repositories enabled (ticked) in System --> Administration --> Software Sources.
Then start the dialup connection and try this command in a terminal (Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal)

sudo apt-get update

And paste the results here.

Hi Alan,

I couldn't find any check boxes saying "repositories enabled" however all applicable boxes in all tabs were apart from "download but dont install"

i also went to system>prefs>network proxy and told it not to use a proxy as it had been set initially to get my dial up going although could browse pages with it set... (as i had lan disabled)

then i went ahead anyway in terminal and punched in the sudo command and password and this is what i got:

admin@david-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get update
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy Release.gpg [191B]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates Release.gpg [191B]
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security Release.gpg [191B]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed Release.gpg [191B]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports Release.gpg [191B]
Get:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy Release [34.7kB]
Get:7 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security Release [50.9kB]
Get:8 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/main Packages [130kB]
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates Release [50.9kB]
Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed Release [38.4kB]
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed Release
Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports Release [44.6kB]
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/universe Packages [76.1kB]
Get:13 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/main Packages [940kB]
Get:14 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/multiverse Packages [5591B]
Get:15 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/restricted Packages [6149B]
Get:16 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/main Sources [25.0kB]
Get:17 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/universe Sources [9785B]
Get:18 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/multiverse Sources [1000B]
Get:19 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/restricted Sources [928B]
Get:20 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/universe Packages [3559kB]
Get:21 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/multiverse Packages [126kB]
Get:22 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/restricted Packages [5974B]
Get:23 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/main Sources [274kB]
Get:24 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/universe Sources [1068kB]
Get:25 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/multiverse Sources [45.0kB]
Get:26 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/restricted Sources [1436B]
Get:27 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/main Packages [190kB]
Get:28 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/universe Packages [93.5kB]
Get:29 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/multiverse Packages [10.8kB]
Get:30 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/restricted Packages [5138B]
Get:31 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/main Sources [46.0kB]
Get:32 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/universe Sources [14.6kB]
Get:33 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/multiverse Sources [1720B]
Get:34 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/restricted Sources [928B]
Get:35 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/main Packages [92.3kB]
Get:36 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/universe Packages [30.3kB]
Get:37 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/multiverse Packages [6424B]
Get:38 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/restricted Packages [14B]
Get:39 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/main Sources [28.3kB]
Get:40 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/universe Sources [6374B]
Get:41 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/multiverse Sources [1119B]
Get:42 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/restricted Sources [14B]
Get:43 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/universe Packages [55.7kB]
Get:44 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/main Packages [18.3kB]
Get:45 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/multiverse Packages [8729B]
Get:46 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/restricted Packages [14B]
Get:47 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/universe Sources [15.5kB]
Get:48 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/main Sources [5620B]
Get:49 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/multiverse Sources [2402B]
Get:50 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/restricted Sources [14B]
Fetched 7089kB in 35m52s (3293B/s)
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

i got this error i think because i was running the S.P.M and the apt-get at the same time

anyway, now my synaptic package manager is managing to download most of the updates... :S
could it have really been just that proxy setting or was it the apt-get that made the system aware of the connection?

So confused =$

2nd time round without S.P.M running i got this:

admin@david-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get update
Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security Release.gpg [191B]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy Release.gpg [191B]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates Release.gpg [191B]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed Release.gpg [191B]
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security Release
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports Release.gpg [191B]
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates Release
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/universe Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/multiverse Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/restricted Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports Release
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/universe Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/main Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/universe Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/multiverse Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com edgy-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/multiverse Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/restricted Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/universe Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/multiverse Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/restricted Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/universe Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/multiverse Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/restricted Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/multiverse Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/universe Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/multiverse Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/restricted Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/universe Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/multiverse Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-proposed/restricted Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/universe Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/main Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/multiverse Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/restricted Packages
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/universe Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/main Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/multiverse Sources
Hit http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy-backports/restricted Sources
Fetched 5B in 6s (1B/s)
Reading package lists... Done

That all looks good. Seems to be working fine now.

indeed thanks for your help Alan, ill prob be back here in a week or so's time with another problem lol until then
take care and thanks again

David