Odd characters in archive update [duplicate]

Question

I'm trying out Ubuntu Server 12.04 on a home server and the update is not working. Not sure why.

I've done a sudo su and apt-get update. After which I get the following:

Err gb.archive.ubuntu.com precise InRelease

Err gb.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates InRelease

Err gb.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports InRelease

Err security.ubuntu.com precise-security InRelease

Err archive.canonical.com precise InRelease

Err extras.ubuntu.com precise InRelease

Err gb.archive.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving âgb.archive.ubuntu.comâ
Err gb.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving âgb.archive.ubuntu.comâ
Err security.ubuntu.com precise-security Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving âsecurity.ubuntu.comâ
Err archive.canonical.com precise Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving âarchive.canonical.comâ
Err gb.archive.ubuntu.com precise-backports Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving âgb.archive.ubuntu.comâ
Err extras.ubuntu.com precise Release.gpg
  Temporary failure resolving âextras.ubuntu.comâ
Reading package lists... Done
W: Failed to fetch gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-updates/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-backports/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-security/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/InRelease

W: Failed to fetch gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving âgb.archive.ubuntu.comâ

W: Failed to fetch gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-updates/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving âgb.archive.ubuntu.comâ

W: Failed to fetch gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-backports/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving âgb.archive.ubuntu.comâ

W: Failed to fetch security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise-security/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving âsecurity.ubuntu.comâ

W: Failed to fetch archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving âarchive.canonical.comâ

W: Failed to fetch extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving âextras.ubuntu.comâ

W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

There are some odd characters which do not appear in the /etc/apt/sources.list

Any ideas anyone? NB I've had to take out the http:// as I couldn't post otherwise.

TIA

Dave

Answer 1

I think the odd characters are a result of your locale settings but I don't think this is your problem here.

Temporary failure resolving âgb.archive.ubuntu.comâ

This howerver suggest that your machine is using a DNS resolver configured in /etc/resolv.conf that cannot resolve gb.archive.ubuntu.com

When you experience this error, check that the command host gb.archive.ubuntu.com returns a list of IP addresses such as this:

gb.archive.ubuntu.com has address 194.169.254.10
gb.archive.ubuntu.com has address 91.189.92.156
gb.archive.ubuntu.com has address 91.189.92.177
gb.archive.ubuntu.com has address 91.189.92.200
gb.archive.ubuntu.com has address 91.189.92.201
gb.archive.ubuntu.com has address 91.189.92.202
gb.archive.ubuntu.com has IPv6 address 2a01:450:10:1::10

If not, look at the resolver configuration in the before mentioned file - it should contain at least one line with nameserver x.x.x.x where x.x.x.x is an IP address of your resolver.

If it's there, you can temporarily use a public resolver which is known to work:

echo 'nameserver 8.8.8.8' > /etc/resolv.conf

and see if it works then. If that doesn't help, you might have a more serious networking problem, but this should get you started.

Answer 2

My problem was in the interfaces file at /etc/network/interfaces. In Ubuntu 12.04 you must have a dns-nameservers line e.g.

dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

edit this file and replace the 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 with your name servers IPs separating each IP with a space. If this line is not present add it. Then restart your networking:

/etc/init.d/networking restart

In this case this solves problems with the DNS.