synaptic package manager error in 8.04 (alpha 6)

My Synaptic Package manage gives this error:

E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

I open Terminal to run the proposed dpkg
txt@tran:~$ dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: requested operation requires superuser privilege
txt@tran:~$ root
bash: root: command not found
txt@tran:~$ cd ..
txt@tran:/home$ cd ..
txt@tran:/$ cd root
txt@tran:/root$ dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: requested operation requires superuser privilege
txt@tran:/root$
txt@tran:/root$

Am the only one in this computer.

txt@tran:/root$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=8.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=hardy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu hardy (development branch)"

txt@tran:/root$ apt-cache policy packagename
W: Unable to locate package packagename