I tried to update Ubuntu 10.04, but it ended up crashing. Therefore, I had no other choice but to reboot. Upon rebooting, I ended up getting the following error message when I tried to update Ubuntu 10.04.
‘E:Malformed 2nd word in the Status line, E:Error occurred while processing libsasl2-modules (UsePackage1), E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/dpkg/status, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.’
Looking online did not provide much help, so I had to do my own testing.
My first attempt was to rename status to status.old in hopes of the file being recreated. That did not work. My next attempt was to rename status-old to status. That worked.
Therefore, in order to fix Ubuntu, one will have to do the following.
- Click on Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
- In the terminal window type sudo nautilus and press the enter key
- Navigate to the File System -> var -> lib -> dpkg directory
- right click on the status file and click on rename
- rename the file to status.old
- right click on the status-old file and click on rename
- rename status-old to status
- close the navigation window
- type exit and enter
- type exit and enter to close the terminal window
Fortunately, Ubuntu Linux keeps a copy of the old files before deleting them. Therefore, if an upgrade fails, one can try using the old file instead. In my case, the old file solved the unable to update problem.
It is recommended to do a filesystem check since Ubuntu may have some errors after a crash. http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-force-fsck-on-the-next-reboot-or-boot-sequence/ will provide help in this area. su – is used in Redhat Linux, therefore, sudo will have to used instead for Ubuntu. The commands for Ubuntu are in the command line:
- cd /
- sudo
touch /forcefsck - reboot
The following post, from a while ago, also has the solution which I wish I had found sooner http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-907474.html