Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

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michaelharned

Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by michaelharned »

I am a newbie running Linux Mint 15 Olivia Cinnamon Edition 64-bit. The Software Manager and Update Manager just stopped working. When I try to start the Software Manager, it asks for my password but then nothing happens. The Update Manager gives me a message which says "Could not refresh the list of packages." Can anyone help?
zedzdead

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by zedzdead »

Try to reboot, see if that fixes it because it may just be a crash. If not report back here
michaelharned

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by michaelharned »

I had rebooted but I just did it again. It doesn't help.
passerby

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by passerby »

Try running either/both from the terminal. That way we'll get debugging info if nothing else.
eg. Open a terminal (Accessories > Terminal), run "sudo mintupdate", enter your password when prompted (nothing will show up while you're typing; this is normal).
MtnDewManiac
Level 6
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Posts: 1491
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:18 pm
Location: United States

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by MtnDewManiac »

Does Synaptic Package Manager work? If it does (make sure by trying to install something), use it to uninstall Update Manager and then install it again. But to be safe, hand-copy all of your settings and sources from it onto a piece of paper so that if it successfully installs, but does so in a virgin state, you can get everything back.

But I'd think that Synaptic shouldn't work if Software Manager doesn't. That doesn't mean it won't, though.

Failing that, see if you can install a package from within your terminal with the usual

Code: Select all

apt-get install <package_name>
command. If that works, try uninstalling Update Manager and installing it in the terminal.

Note: I am NOT a linux expert, lol, so don't blame me if you try the above and your problem gets worse instead of better.
Mint 18 Xfce 4.12.

If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk, and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
WharfRat

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by WharfRat »

michaelharned,

Open a terminal and enter this:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update
That will attempt to update the local package index from the repos, The last two line will read something close to:

Code: Select all

Fetched 829 kB in 7s (115 kB/s)                                                                                                                                                                                
Reading package lists... Done
If you get any error messages paste them back otherwise just let us know if the update succeeded :wink:
michaelharned

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by michaelharned »

I entered "sudo apt-get update" and my password. After a lot of stuff, it ended:
Fetched 5,764 kB in 17s (323 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Error!
W: GPG error: http://archive.ubuntu.com raring Release: The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG 40976EAF437D05B5 Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key <ftpmaster@ubuntu.com>
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.canonical_ubuntu_dists_raring_partner_i18n_Translation-en
E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
kurotsugi

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by kurotsugi »

some of the package cache is corrupted. you need to delete the old one and download a new one. you can also try these step: dissable all the repositories (using text editor is better)- run 'sudo apt-get update' - re-enable all the repository - run 'sudo apt-get update' once more.

by following those steps you will reset all the package cache.
michaelharned

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by michaelharned »

I'm sorry, I don't know how to disable all the repositories, nor do I know how to re-enable all the repositories. Could I get a more detailed explanation?
WharfRat

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by WharfRat »

michaelharned wrote:I'm sorry, I don't know how to disable all the repositories, nor do I know how to re-enable all the repositories. Could I get a more detailed explanation?
Try this:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get clean 

cd /var/lib/apt
 
sudo mv lists lists.old
 
sudo mkdir -p lists/partial
 
sudo apt-get clean
 
sudo apt-get update
Hopefully this will fix it otherwise lists.old can be moved back to lists
michaelharned

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by michaelharned »

That worked great! I can't thank you enough. I had heard that support from the Linux community was good but this was fantastic! I am so proud to be using Linux rather than depending on the Microsoft monopoly, but I had been reluctant about evangelizing until I was sure about the support. Now I will definitely tell all my friends that Linux is the way to go!
WharfRat

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by WharfRat »

michaelharned,

I guess it's safe to let you know now that I don't know anything about this stuff, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night :D

Good luck :wink:
Nitro

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by Nitro »

Please help, I have the same issue (After I type in my password nothing happens) and have tried everything posted on this thread. Nothing helps... Does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks!! :)
Herbivore
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:59 pm

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by Herbivore »

I just had the same problem. This worked for me:

[url]http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=137486[/url]

:)
MacGeek83

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by MacGeek83 »

Herbivore wrote:I just had the same problem. This worked for me:

[url]http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=137486[/url]

:)
Just had the same issue and this this link is what worked for me. Thanks Herbivore
sarathykalpakkam

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by sarathykalpakkam »

michaelharned wrote:That worked great! I can't thank you enough. I had heard that support from the Linux community was good but this was fantastic! I am so proud to be using Linux rather than depending on the Microsoft monopoly, but I had been reluctant about evangelizing until I was sure about the support. Now I will definitely tell all my friends that Linux is the way to go!
Great! For me also WharfRat method worked well.
JimFitz

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by JimFitz »

Worked for me as well, thanks very much for the clear solution.

Great to know that there are knowledgeable people about willing to help others. Even people totally new to the OS.
pbanerjee

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by pbanerjee »

Thanks a lot. This solution (resetting the repository cache) worked for me :-)
sagittae

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by sagittae »

The solution of WharfRat also worked for me. Many many thanks
doughboy

Re: Help! Software Manager and Update Manager not working

Post by doughboy »

The warftrat solution worked!!! Postby WharfRat on Thu Jun 27, 2013 1:07 pm Thanks to the whole community. I have different distos on all my machines and the kids as well. Definitely going to by a purpose built Linux laptop.
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