12.04 hasn't updated in over a week. Returns "404" errors

[ScottyK]

For over a week now I've been unable to update my distro. This is happening on my netbook, a computer that gets light use, and rarely gets new programs installed.

when I run sudo apt-get update from the command line, I get this back..

Failed to download http://ppa.launchpad.net///ubuntu/dists/precise/main/source/Sources

 404 Not Found
 
Failed to download http://ppa.launchpad.net///ubuntu/dists/precise/main/binary-i386/Packages

 404 Not Found

One of the threads I read suggested that I run the following command

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Which had no effect.

Then a forum member recommended the other user post the contents of their /etc/apt.sources.list. Below is the contents of said file.

Hope this helps, I'm not sure what I'm looking for in the sources.list

-------------------------------------

# deb cdrom:[Kubuntu 12.04 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Beta i386 (20120328)]/ precise main restricted

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates multiverse

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner

## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
## developers who want to ship their latest software.
deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main

[Snowhog]

The 404 errors aren't coming from the entries in your /etc/apt/sources.list file. They are coming from 'one or more' third-party repository list files. What do you have in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

[ScottyK]

This is what is listed in that directory.


libreoffice-ppa-precise.list.save
kubuntu-ppa-ppa-precise.list --precise.list
kubuntu-ppa-ppa-precise.list.save --precise.list.save
libreoffice-ppa-precise.list trebelnik-stefina-nightingale-precise.list

[Snowhog]

What are the contents of:

kubuntu-ppa-ppa-precise.list
libreoffice-ppa-precise.list

[ScottyK]

kubuntu-ppa-ppa-precise.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/ppa/ubuntu precise main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/ppa/ubuntu precise main

libreoffice-ppa-precist.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/ppa/ubuntu precise main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/ppa/ubuntu precise main

[Snowhog]

Try changing the server.

Configure Software Sources > Kubuntu Software > Download from:

I use http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu

[claydoh]

ppa's i don't think have country based repo servers like regular ones (again, I don't think)

libreoffice-ppa-precise.list.save
kubuntu-ppa-ppa-precise.list
--precise.list
kubuntu-ppa-ppa-precise.list.save
--precise.list.save
libreoffice-ppa-precise.list
trebelnik-stefina-nightingale-precise.list

Not sure if the above list is pasted correctly (formatting?) but the --precise.list entry seems out of place. What is the content of that file?

If this doesn't reveal the offending file, my easier gui suggestion is to go into Muon and open the Configure Software Sources tool, go to the Other Software tab, and try disabling some of the PPA's you added, refreshing after you uncheck each one to find the offending entry.

[Snowhog]

I interpreted '--precise.list' and '--precise.list.save' as comments to what the file is. Guess we need to know from ScottyK to be sure.

[ScottyK]

claydoh -

After reading your post, I went back and listed the directory as details instead of icons, and noticed that there were two files that looked out of place.

"--precise.list" and "--precise.list.save"

After discovering those two files were not on my notebook, I went in as root and deleted those two files.

Running update and upgrade no longer triggers the error, and now a flood of updates are waiting for me.

So that was the problem, good catch and thanks to everyone for your suggestions!