How to solve the error message “the file could not be parsed or opened?” [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How do I fix a “Problem with MergeList” error when trying to do an update?

When I try to do updates or download new software (like C++) it gives me this error:

E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_restricted_binary-amd64_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

I am new to Ubuntu/Linux and have no idea what to do. I saw a question that was similar to this, but there were some differences in the error message in the second line.

Answer 1

open your terminal and paste this one by one .

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_restricted_binary-amd64_Packages
sudo apt-get update

if that doesn't work then

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get update