[CLOSED / NOT SOLVED] Could not download all repository indexes

[tmteamt]

Hi guys!

I am having an issue with the update manager on LM Cinnamon 20.
I have already had a similar issue in the past and solved it on my own but I can"t figured out this one!

Whenever I refresh the update manager through the GUI, I get the following error:

Could not download all repository indexes

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The repository may no longer be available or could not be contacted because of network problems.
If available an older version of the failed index will be used. Otherwise the repository will be ignored.
Check your network connection and ensure the repository address in the preferences is correct.

When I close this window, I get the following details:

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E: Invalid record in the preferences file, no Package header
E: Unable to lock the list directory

Potential trigger:

I noticed this issue right after I installed Ubuntu's Firefox 80.01 via the Synaptic Package Manager and locked the version.
After that, I reverted this change and went back to Firefox 80 (Mint version) but it did not solve my issue.

I also tried different mirror sources but without success!

N.B: This is a fresh install and not an upgrade. Please find below some relevant details about my PC:

inxi -Fxxxrz

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System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-45-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7 wm: muffin 4.6.3 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 80QQ v: Lenovo ideapad 100-15IBD 
  serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 v: Lenovo ideapad 100-15IBD 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: LENOVO model: Nano 5B6 v: NO DPK serial: <filter> 
  UEFI [Legacy]: LENOVO v: E0CN23WW date: 09/16/2015 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 14.3 Wh condition: 21.3/31.7 Wh (67%) volts: 15.3/14.4 
  model: GC 15L4A01 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> status: Charging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i3-5005U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Broadwell rev: 4 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 15963 
  Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 500/1900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 
  3: 798 4: 798 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 5500 vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:1616 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 5500 (BDW GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.0.8 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Broadwell-U Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0 chip ID: 8086:160c 
  Device-2: Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:9ca0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-45-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Lenovo 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 4000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8136 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lenovo 
  driver: rtl8723be v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:b723 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IF-ID-1: tun0 state: unknown speed: 10 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 8.12 GiB (1.7%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD5000LPCX-24VHAT0 
  size: 465.76 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> 
  rev: 1A01 scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 36.41 GiB used: 7.93 GiB (21.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
  ID-2: /home size: 416.20 GiB used: 193.1 MiB (0.0%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sda2 
  ID-3: swap-1 size: 4.66 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/phoerious-keepassxc-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/phoerious/keepassxc/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qbittorrent-team-qbittorrent-stable-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable/ubuntu focal main
Info:
  Processes: 206 Uptime: 16m Memory: 3.76 GiB used: 1.52 GiB (40.4%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

apt update:

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Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease                                                                                                                  
Hit:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/phoerious/keepassxc/ubuntu focal InRelease                                                                                               
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease [111 kB]                                                                    
Ign:4 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana InRelease                                                                                             
Hit:5 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal InRelease                                                                                        
Hit:6 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease                                                                
Hit:7 http://ppa.launchpad.net/qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable/ubuntu focal InRelease            
Hit:8 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana Release                             
Get:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease [98.3 kB]
Fetched 210 kB in 2s (102 kB/s)    
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.

Your help would be appreciated.
Regards,

[jamiemint]

You can try a few things.
1. Make sure synaptic isn't running
2. Restart
3. sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/dpkg_lock_check.sh (should not return a number.)
4. sudo mint-refresh-cache

Jamie

[sleeper12]

Just a guess, but I would suspect one of the ppa's mentioned. Go to Software Sources, PPA's, disable them & see if that fixes it.

[antikythera]

In software sources, try different package repository mirrors.

[tmteamt]

@jamiemint
I tried your suggestions but I still have the same problem.
The first command did not return a number.

@sleeper12
Disabling the PPAs did not fix it either!

@antikythera
I have already tried different package repository mirrors before posting this topic.

[antikythera]

Then open software sources again and work through all the fixes one by one on the maintenance tab until hopefully your system will update again without error messages.

[sleeper12]

Check Software Sources, Additional Repos too, maybe something there needs to be disabled.

[tmteamt]

@antikythera
I applied all the fixes on the maintenance tab but no luck so far!

@sleeper12
There are no additional repositories except the CD-ROM (Installation Disc) which is disabled by default.

[sleeper12]

Did you try clicking 'Restore the default settings' in Software Sources?

[tmteamt]

Did you try clicking 'Restore the default settings' in Software Sources?

Yeah, I tried that as well!

[tmteamt]

I think I am gonna close this topic 'cause I need to give this PC to a family member today.
I am gonna reinstall the OS instead.

Anyways, thank you all for trying to help!

[antikythera]

A reinstall may well be the best idea anyway. If you are giving it to someone else, consider doing it in OEM mode. That way they can set their own username and password plus language preferences on the first boot they see.

[sleeper12]

Closest thing I could find to a possible solution is here:
viewtopic.php?t=328613

[atfrase]

In case anyone else happens upon this later, I just had the same issue and it seems to have been caused by a single blank line (i.e. an extra \n) in the file "/var/lib/synaptic/preferences". When I removed that line (making the file empty), the error went away.

[michalq]

see for info: viewtopic.php?p=2016455#p2016455

[Ahmed_Elsayed]

I fixed the issue by doing these steps:

1- I opened this file >> "/var/lib/synaptic/preferences"

2- I added a new line, then saved it.

3- I removed the new line, then saved it again.

[sleeper12]

Not sure how valid it is, but I came across this as a possible fix:

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 sudo cp /etc/apt/preferences ~/preferences 

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 sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences 

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 sudo apt-get update ; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade 

[Kendoori]

I fixed the issue by doing these steps:

1- I opened this file >> "/var/lib/synaptic/preferences"

2- I added a new line, then saved it.

3- I removed the new line, then saved it again.

This worked for me!

[Shaolin12]

The above also worked for me,

I'm not sure why this works as on my system those commands create an
empty preferences file, and the instructions say to put a line in and remove it,
however I put this in, expecting for nothing to occur, and bowl-me-over-with-a-feather,
it just worked.

Top find there, thank you so much, this has persisted on my machine for quite some time without a resolution.

May the road rise up to greet you, and the Sun always be at your back!

Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon
Cinnamon Version = 4.6.7
Kernel = 5.4.0-77-generic
CPU = Intel© Core™ i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz × 6
Memory = 31.3 GiB
Graphics Hardware = NVIDIA Corporation TU116 [GeForce GTX 1660 Ti]