Software updater fails to start

[Chas IRONS]

On Wed, 2015-06-17 at 12:47 +0200, Liam Proven wrote:
> 
> 
> On 16 June 2015 at 14:04, Chas IRONS <ironscf at telkomsa.net> wrote:
> 
>         Hi all 
>         
>         Software updater won't start when there are updates available.
>         I did click the Report button without any response.
>         
>         Then I get this error on starting Synaptic Package Manager as
>         instructed in the Notifications bar.
>         E: Unable to parse package
>         file /var/lib/apt/lists/za.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_trusty-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en (1)
>         E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or
>         opened.
>         E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
>         
>         Also ran apt-get with this result:
>         chas at Charles-PC:~$ sudo apt-get check
>         [sudo] password for chas: 
>         Reading package lists... Error!
>         E: Unable to parse package
>         file /var/lib/apt/lists/za.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_trusty-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en (1)
>         E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or
>         opened.
>         
>         Hope someone can guide me to fix this.
> 
> 
> Try this. [1] Clear the APT cache, [2] do the update from the shell,
> [3] reboot, and I bet it'll be all fine.
> 
> 
> [1] 
> 
> 
> sudo apt-get clean
> sudo apt-get autoclean
> sudo apt-get autoremove
> 
> 
> If that works, try
> 
> 
> [2] 
> 
> 
> sudo apt-get update
> sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y
> 
> 
> Whether that works or not:
> 
> 
> [3] 
> 
> 
> sudo touch /forcefsck
> sudo shutdown -r now
> 
> 
> ... which will reboot. Afterwards I'm betting it'll be fine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
> Email: lproven at cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
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> Cell/Mobiles: +44 7939-087884 (UK) • +420 702 829 053 (ČR)

Thanks Liam for your detailed advice.  That is easy to do so I have
saved it.

Before your reply arrived my HP printer gave trouble ; rejecting jobs,
communication error. Don't know why.
The HPLIP troubleshooter showed lots of details and missing
dependencies; then it started apt-get and fixed them.
That has cleared the Software Updater error and the printer has revived
with a fresh black cartridge.
Incidentally the HP650 cartridge shows less than a quarter of ink
available.

Thanks again for your expertise.
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