Apt-get Problem Appears on Formerly Stable System

[LaneLester]

When you have an error message you could do a search - searching with the 'the package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. ubuntu' : https://www.google.fi/#q=The+package...opened.+ubuntu

A hit - AskUbuntu: http://askubuntu.com/questions/30072...-be-parsed-err

Thanks, this looks promising:

These terminal commands should solve your problem:
First remove the Merge List by opening a terminal (Press Ctrl+Alt+T to launch) and run this command:
sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
Next, generate a new one by running a simple update:
sudo apt-get update

Lane

[Rog132]

When you have an error message you could do a search - searching with the 'the package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. ubuntu' : https://www.google.fi/#q=The+package...opened.+ubuntu

A hit - AskUbuntu: http://askubuntu.com/questions/30072...-be-parsed-err

[LaneLester]

My wife and I have been using Kubuntu on our computers successfully for a number of years. She's out of town, so now's my chance to update her system!

Unfortunately, when I did an apt-get update, it seemed to go OK, but at the end displayed this:

Fetched 11.8 MB in 1min 14s (159 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_multive rse_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

I tried apt-get install synaptic and got a similar error:

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_multive rse_binary-i386_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Do you have a suggestion how I might fix this?

Lane