Looks like a hardware error to me.dpkg: failed in buffer_read(fd): copy info file `/var/lib/dpkg/available': Input/output error
GUI Application to check your hard drives:
http://gsmartcontrol.berlios.de/home/index.php/en/Home
Download for Jaunty / Gloria :
http://download.opensuse.org/repositori ... 1_i386.deb