Ubuntu
update-manager package

The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Asked by peter

I was dowloading the atlas libraries from the package manager, but on one of them it got stuck (didnt download anything), and, not knowing the abort or terminate command, i just clicked on the close window "x". when i tried running the package manager again, it had an error saying it was in use, so i tried rebooting, which crashed the system. i logged onto windows which crashed as well, re-logged on to windows, ran the anti-virus, found a virus (which it eliminated), crashe again. tried logging on to ubuntu, crash, ran recovery kernel, got warning with unable to mount, log on to windows twice running the chkdisk. did that, managed to log on to ubuntu, but the pacakge manager now says this:
E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/dpkg/status (1)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

i tried with
sudo dpkg --clear-avail
sudo dpkg --configure -a
but the second command generated
dpkg: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 1:
 field name `2000,want=8650462000,' must be followed by colon

how do i fix this problem?

also, considering ive been having several problems now, and this isnt my main system, would be a better idea to format the drive and re-install?

thanks

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Ubuntu update-manager Edit question
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peter
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Revision history for this message
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#1

Try with a sudo dpkg --clear-avail && sudo apt-get update && sudo dpkg --configure -a

Hope this helps

Revision history for this message
peter (lovedaypeter) said : 		#2

I tried and it appeared to be working. after sudo apt-get update, it downloaded several files, and while it was reading, it got to 96% and the system crashed. when i reset the computer, i tried the commands again, but this time, after apt-get update, it downloaded but got to reading and gave the same error as before:

E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/dpkg/status (1)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened

Revision history for this message
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#3

Ok also do a package clean so type:

Open a Terminal from the menu Applications → Accessories → Terminal and type:
(when the system ask you a password give your user password, you will not see nothing when you type it, then press enter)

sudo dpkg --clear -avail
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoremove

Hope this helps

Revision history for this message
peter (lovedaypeter) said : 		#4

Thanks, but im afraid i wont be able to try it out: the computer is pretty much dead, we think its a hardware issue (it is ten years old), because windows is failing as well, ran an antivirus, and if i tried to scan the location where ubuntu was installed it froze, tried to reinstall ubuntu, but never got that far cause it keeps crashing.

thanks anyway

Revision history for this message
deva kumar (m-devakumar) said : 		#5

Hi I tried above commnads. But I am getting
E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room
E: Error occurred while processing bwm (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_dapper_universe_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
these errors

Please solve my problem

Thanking you

Revision history for this message
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#6

@ deva kumar

Please don't append a new question on a already answered or marked as solved question.
Please make new question from here: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion
you will get better chance to get right answer on a fresh tagged "open" question.
Solved or answered questions are usually not read from answering people.

Thank you

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#7

deva kumar: dapper is no longer supported. I suggest you simply run:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_dapper_universe_binary-i386_Packages

and you will be fine