I cannot update Ubuntu 64 11.10, have constant crashes

Question

I can't seem to update, try via update manager & get this message:

The package system is broken. If you are using third party repositories then disable them, since they are a common source of problems. Now run the following command in a terminal: apt-get install -f The following packages have unmet dependencies:

libc6: Depends: libc-bin (= 2.13-20ubuntu5) but 2.13-20ubuntu5.1 is installed
libc6:i386: Depends: libc-bin (= 2.13-20ubuntu5) but 2.13-20ubuntu5.1 is installed

When manually entering command apt-get install -f I get the below message:

:~$ apt-get install -f
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?'

I get loads of Firefox crashes & now simply when copying a file from one folder to another the system crashes, seems to be degenerating - clearly I'm not very techy (don't know what or where 3rd party repositories are or how to disable them..) need some help.

Answer 1

sudo apt-get install -f

Do not forget you need admin rights to update your system.

If all is lost a re-install might be an option. Save the important files to an usb stick or a cd and re-install.