cant update packages

please try changing to a different server in System->Administration->Software Sources click on Download From and choose a different server.

I tried changing to several different servers but i get the same thing

please help me willing to try anything to see if it will work

sorry i guess i should tell you i have ubuntu 8.04

can you access sites on the internet? ie google?

can you ping ubuntu.com?

can you post the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list

i can access the internet and ping ubuntu.com but im really not sure how to post the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list hope you can help me

Application menu on the top taskbar - Accessories - Text Editor
This should bring up Gedit. Open and browse for the file by clicking on the "Open" button. In the left-hand side-panel click on "Filesystem", then in the right-hand main-panel double click on "etc" and then on "apt" and then on "source.lst" this should take you back to the main part of Gedit with a lot of writing in the main-panel. Click anywhere in there and do CtrlA CtrlC and then into the 'post a message part in here where you write click into the part you'd write in and do CtrlV Send that to us :)

Now quickly go back to gedit and close it without saving it. Escape or Quit or something like that should close Gedit for you. We want to make sure that you dont change any of that by accident - so don't save it ;)

Cool huh?

deb http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-netbook-base main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-netbook-base main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-dell-mini main universe multiverse restricted
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main restricted universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted universe
deb-src http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-dell-mini main universe multiverse restricted

this is what i got from the sources list but it still will not let me update packages i still get failed to fetch security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy-security/main/binary-lpia/packages.gz 404 not found and failed to fetch us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy/main/binary-lpia packages gz

someone please help me, i know how to do nothing on this thing

Seems a bug please read: https://bugs.launchpad.net/dell-mini/+bug/296430/+viewstatus
I have subscribed you to this bug so you can be automatically notified when there are news or changes

Hope this helps

is this a problem i will not be able to fix? Do i need to run updates to keep my computer safe

Please check this bug report you are not alone https://bugs.launchpad.net/dell-mini/+bug/296430
I'm sure the bug assigned to https://launchpad.net/~cgregan will have a solution.

Hope this helps

Your computer is safe even without updates for a long while as Ubuntu has much better security than Windows. Windows virus's are the ones in the news quite often but they don't affect linux systems like ubuntu because the programming code is completely different. Don't worry

Regards from
Tom :)

PS that's actually one of the reasons i and many other people started using Ubuntu in the first place :)

That makes me feel a little better but how can i fix the problem with not being able to update packages

Don't worry when an solution comes you will be notified and you can easily fix your Ubuntu issue.
I think you must do nothing, this is a repositories server related issue, your installation and your repository sources setup are fine.

Hope this helps

thanks that seems to help my problem. I am not getting all that other stuff i was getting and its actually telling me my system was updated less than an our ago. Thanks a lot feranick for your advice

"telling me my system was updated less than an hour ago" - yes it looks like the repositories that are failing are not your main ones and that updates are in fact going ahead fine.

Anyway in Ubuntu (and other linux's) the updates seem to be almost entirely about adding functionality and getting more out of your machine. So they are not essential if you are happy with the way it works at the moment :)

You could always test it by adding a new program/game you like the look of (or even just a text-editor) and then see if you can use the program you added. Then you'd be certain that all is well :)