Update manager not working

[donfos]

On my installation of Linix Mint 12 Lisa with Cinnamon desktop, the Update manager is not finding the most recent updates required from the Ubuntu archive source, and is generating continual error messages with each retry over several days as shown here:

Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... 4/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.179 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... 6/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.179 80]
Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... 4/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.180 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... 6/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.180 80]
Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

E: Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_oneiric-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.

#ERROR###ERROR###ERROR
E:Unable to parse package file /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_oneiric-updates_main_i18n_Translation-en (1), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

First the obvious questions and answers to those:

Yes, it has done all previous updates up to the beginning of April 2012.

Yes, the IP address is correct - it pings successfully each time it has been tried using the 'Network Tools' app., and shows up as the correct Canonical name service, etc.

Yes, I have tried with different Download servers - both the Main and with local mirrors without success.

No, I have not touched the Firewall, as it has been operating successfully allowing all upgrades previously up to now.

What is happening and how can I expedite the Update process?
----------------------------
Please and thanks?
Donald

[remoulder]

Please post output in a terminal of

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inxi -Sr

[donfos]

As requested details about the repositories are here:

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donald@donald-Aspire-M3600 ~ $ inxi -Sr
System:    Host donald-Aspire-M3600 Kernel 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop Gnome Distro Linux Mint 12 Lisa
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list
           deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/linuxmint-packages/ lisa main upstream import
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ oneiric partner
           deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ oneiric free non-free
donald@donald-Aspire-M3600 ~ $

Thanks
Donald

[remoulder]

Can't see any obvious problems there. Try in a terminal entering each of the following lines

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sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get update

If that doesn't work, try

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sudo apt-get clean
cd /var/lib/apt
mv lists lists.old
mkdir -p lists/partial
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update

N.B. you can copy/paste into the terminal

[smllms]

Just wanted to confirm the issue. I've followed the 'sudo apt-get clean' ... etc. per the post below, but update is still not working. Thanks.

[SallyK]

I came here to report a similar error and I'm also using Mint 12 with the Cinnamon desktop. I'm regularly getting "Could not refresh the package list" and in the package manager

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ERROR###ERROR###ERROR###ERROR###ERROR###ERROR###ERROR
W:Failed to fetch http://archive.canonical.com/dists/lisa/partner/binary-amd64/Packages  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.33 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://archive.canonical.com/dists/lisa/partner/binary-i386/Packages  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.33 80]
, E:Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

I tried both of the solutions remoulder very kindly suggested, and neither of them helped.

[smllms]

Just so you know ... the update manager seems to be working again on my laptop. I did nothing different, the update applet just displayed the updates needed icon and when selected the updates went through. Thanks.

[donfos]

Just so you know ... the update manager seems to be working again on my laptop. I did nothing different, the update applet just displayed the updates needed icon and when selected the updates went through. Thanks.

This is good news and I have tried it again, and yes achieved success, finally.

The reason for the failure, however has still not been resolved entirely (something to do with the Ubuntu archive server access), and for this reason should be left marked as ongoing for possible future tracking.

Thanks for all who helped.

Donald