One of the most common error one faces while updating Ubuntu, either through Software Updater or in Terminal, is “Failed to download repository information Check your Internet connection.”
However, this is a generic error shown for any kind of Ubuntu update error. What you need to know is exactly what’s wrong with it. And for that, you’ll have to use the terminal.
Open the terminal application and use the following command:
sudo apt-get updateThere will be a huge output. Don’t worry about that. Once the command finishes running, carefully look at the last two or three lines. This is where you’ll find the exact error.
W:Failed to fetch bzip2:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/in.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_oneiric_restricted_binary-i386_Packages Hash Sum mismatch
W:Failed to fetch bzip2:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/in.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_oneiric_multiverse_binary-i386_Packages Hash Sum mismatch
E:Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used insteadAs you can see, the error is “Hash Sum Mismatch”. If you don’t see this error, try this tutorial to fix ‘failed to download repository information‘ error.
The one shot solution to this problem which has always worked for me is to run the following commands in terminal:
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get updateI hope this quick tip helps you as well.
Thank you! It worked fine!
Fetched 45.7 MB in 4min 12s (181 kB/s)
Reading package lists… Done
N: Ignoring file ‘google-chrome.list’’ in directory ‘/etc/apt/sources.list.d/’ as it has an invalid filename extension
W: GPG error: https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian stable InRelease: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 23E7166788B63E1E
W: The repository ‘https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian stable InRelease’ is not signed.
N: Data from such a repository can’t be authenticated and is therefore potentially dangerous to use.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu xenial InRelease: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 76F1A20FF987672F
W: The repository ‘https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu xenial InRelease’ is not signed.
N: Data from such a repository can’t be authenticated and is therefore potentially dangerous to use.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: http://repo.mongodb.com/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-enterprise/3.6 Release: The following signatures were invalid: KEYEXPIRED 1544811256
W: The repository ‘http://repo.mongodb.com/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-enterprise/3.6 Release’ is not signed.
N: Data from such a repository can’t be authenticated and is therefore potentially dangerous to use.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
You are missing the key or have used expired GPG key. What commands did you use?
[email protected]:/home/test# sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
[email protected]:/home/test# sudo apt-get update
Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 17.10 _Artful Aardvark_ – Release amd64 (20171018) artful InRelease
Err:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 17.10 _Artful Aardvark_ – Release amd64 (20171018) artful Release
Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD-ROM recognized by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CD-ROMs
Ign:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful InRelease
Ign:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-updates InRelease
Ign:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-backports InRelease
Ign:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security InRelease
Err:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful Release
404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1562::16 80]
Err:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-updates Release
404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1562::16 80]
Err:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-backports Release
404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1562::16 80]
Err:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security Release
404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1562::16 80]
Reading package lists… Done
E: The repository ‘cdrom://Ubuntu 17.10 _Artful Aardvark_ – Release amd64 (20171018) artful Release’ does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can’t be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository ‘http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful Release’ does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can’t be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository ‘http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-updates Release’ does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can’t be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository ‘http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-backports Release’ does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can’t be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository ‘http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful-security Release’ does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can’t be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
I have followed your suggestions to avoid the similar error message for UBUNTU 18.04LTS version. I am giving the error message received below for your kind suggestion please
sudo apt-get update
Err:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick InRelease
Could not resolve ‘us.archive.ubuntu.com’
Err:2 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick InRelease
Could not resolve ‘archive.canonical.com’
Err:3 http://archive.linux.duke.edu/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Could not resolve ‘archive.linux.duke.edu’
Err:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-security InRelease
Could not resolve ‘us.archive.ubuntu.com’
Err:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu maverick-updates InRelease
Could not resolve ‘us.archive.ubuntu.com’
Reading package lists… Done
W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/maverick/InRelease Could not resolve ‘us.archive.ubuntu.com’
W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/maverick-security/InRelease Could not resolve ‘us.archive.ubuntu.com’
W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/maverick-updates/InRelease Could not resolve ‘us.archive.ubuntu.com’
W: Failed to fetch http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/dists/maverick/InRelease Could not resolve ‘archive.canonical.com’
W: Failed to fetch http://archive.linux.duke.edu/ubuntu/dists/bionic/InRelease Could not resolve ‘archive.linux.duke.edu’
W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
E: Failed to fetch http://mm.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic-updates/universe/binary-amd64/by-hash/SHA256/996dc5310abd953b0aa7de802583f018c4cf86ac9fe1386df4306fb3cbb822bb Hash Sum mismatch
Hashes of expected file:
– Filesize:563816 [weak]
– SHA256:996dc5310abd953b0aa7de802583f018c4cf86ac9fe1386df4306fb3cbb822bb
– SHA1:9020f4971425a7e9dab5af71d0702b9b8dadff82 [weak]
– MD5Sum:fab9b06095e3d1eb9bc759b0b846f658 [weak]
Hashes of received file:
– SHA256:99bd17d15974b26805dc805a23eae0a09584592f76583e08ec716552e078fff4
– SHA1:1164778f920658bee37124786dd97cab180626f5 [weak]
– MD5Sum:1776070f328f21f82701b44532d97d13 [weak]
– Filesize:563816 [weak]
Last modification reported: Wed, 17 Oct 2018 07:00:27 +0000
Release file created at: Wed, 17 Oct 2018 09:24:50 +0000
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
how to fix this error