Can't Update System -- Broken Configuration?

[LaneLester]

When I tried to update my wife's Kubuntu 12.04 laptop after several weeks, Muon said it couldn't do the job. It said the package system could not be initialized and the configuration might be broken.

I pulled up a terminal and did a sudo apt-get update. At the end of all the file downloading I got this response:
Fetched 17.5 MB in 1min 51s (156 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_multive rse_i18n_Translation-en
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

I tried commenting out the multiverse lines in sources.list, but then I got the same error for restricted instead of multiverse.

Is there a fix, or am I looking at a reinstall?

Lane

[JontheEchidna]

To fix this, you can remove the corrupted package list files by running

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists* -vf

...and then checking for updates. You may also wish to re-enable multiverse after removing the corrupted files, too.

[LaneLester]

To fix this, you can remove the corrupted package list files by running

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists* -vf

...and then checking for updates. You may also wish to re-enable multiverse after removing the corrupted files, too.

Thanks! That was just what was needed.

Lane