crippled meerkat

[MR ZenWiz]

On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 11:40 AM, chiaowl <chiaowl at owly.net> wrote:
> Keeping it brief:
> no mic sound, won't send emails, unable to access computer janitor, package manager, or ubuntu software center - plus misc. other problems like not allowing email backups (which I think I need to do before I clumsily try to resolve this with my sub-kindergarten level of knowledge of linux).
>
> E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
> E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_maverick_main_binary-i386_Packages
> E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
> E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
>
> This is what comes up at various times. Searching it doesn't help me. Tried to find something similar at ubuntu.com until my head started spinning.
>
> Anybody patient enough to help me figure out what all this means, and help me fix it? or point me somewhere that can help me please?
>
> I try to figure most things out myself without bothering the list but this one is way far beyond my understanding :(.
>
A little too brief, methinks.

What did you do that put you in this position?  That might be a better
starting point for the rest of us, too.