help needed upgrading

[George E Noon]

When I do the  usual,  'every day'  update manager thing,  all possible 
source files do not download & I get the following error message, which 
I've copy & pasted here.
>
> GPG error: http://ubuntu.somp.nl hardy/ Release: The following 
> signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not 
> available: NO_PUBKEY 57A212C31E17C115GPG error: 
> http://wine.budgetdedicated.com hardy Release: The following 
> signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not 
> available: NO_PUBKEY 58403026387EE263Failed to fetch 
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy/Release Unable to find 
> expected entry web/binary-i386/Packages in Meta-index file (malformed 
> Release file?)
>
> Failed to fetch 
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy-updates/Release Unable to 
> find expected entry web/binary-i386/Packages in Meta-index file 
> (malformed Release file?)
>
> Failed to fetch 
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy-security/Release Unable 
> to find expected entry web/binary-i386/Packages in Meta-index file 
> (malformed Release file?)
>
> Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old 
> ones used instead.
>
This message refers to 'malformed release file[s]: how can I discover 
which ones, and remedy the problem?

----------------

When I attempted to 'update' to 8.10 from 8.04; - by using Alt+F2, 
entering 'update-manager -d',
I got the following

> W:Failed to fetch 
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/intrepid/Release  Unable to 
> find expected entry  web/binary-i386/Packages in Meta-index file 
> (malformed Release file?)
> , W:Failed to fetch 
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/intrepid-updates/Release  
> Unable to find expected entry  web/binary-i386/Packages in Meta-index 
> file (malformed Release file?)
> , W:Failed to fetch 
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/intrepid-security/Release  
> Unable to find expected entry  web/binary-i386/Packages in Meta-index 
> file (malformed Release file?)
> , E:Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or 
> old ones used instead.
This message, also, refers to 'malformed release file[s]: how can I 
discover which ones, and remedy the problem?
Or perhaps -- even likely, it is the same problem...

------------

I have downloaded the ISO images of the GUI install and the alternate 
install disks for 8.10 --- but am unsure how to proceed to install 
[upgrade to] Intrepid without chancing losing all my documents and 
graphics files on my hard drive.
For some reason the gui install disk hangs up right away - on hitting 
enter from the first screen. The alternate does not seem to have any 
such problem with my system but as I say, i am unsure how to proceed, 
and really do not want to risk having to recreate all those forms & 
documents [guess I'd better make back up disks of them] and likewise 
with all my family photos & other graphics files.   


Thanks in advance for any and all help and suggestions --- sorry to have 
missed the release party, had other commitments.
George E Noon
Whitman