update Manager could not initialise the package information

Thanks for your bugreport.

Could you please open a terminal and run:
$ ls -lR /var/lib/apt/lists

and attach the output to this bugreport?

As requested:

/var/lib/apt/lists:
total 38672
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 7268072 2008-04-24 07:05 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_main_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 68801 2008-02-22 14:03 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_main_i18n_Translation-en%5fGB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 2110816 2008-04-24 07:17 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_main_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 851048 2008-04-24 07:07 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_multiverse_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 137956 2008-02-21 11:03 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_multiverse_i18n_Translation-en%5fGB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 290067 2008-04-24 07:19 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_multiverse_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 65852 2008-04-24 07:19 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_Release
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 191 2008-04-24 07:19 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_Release.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 29740 2008-04-24 07:05 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_restricted_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5462 2008-02-22 15:03 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_restricted_i18n_Translation-en%5fGB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 4407 2008-04-24 07:17 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_restricted_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 20484423 2008-04-24 07:07 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_universe_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10487 2008-02-25 15:03 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_universe_i18n_Translation-en%5fGB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 999 6833863 2008-04-24 07:19 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_universe_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 525640 2008-06-03 12:43 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_main_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 97654 2008-06-03 13:01 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_main_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 42601 2008-06-03 12:43 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_multiverse_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2869 2008-06-03 13:01 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_multiverse_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 58531 2008-06-03 13:02 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_Release
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 191 2008-06-03 13:02 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_Release.gpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 32647 2008-06-03 12:43 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_restricted_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2676 2008-06-03 13:01 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_restricted_source_Sources
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 201363 2008-06-03 12:43 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_universe_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21489 2008-06-03 13:01 gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-updates_universe_source_Sources
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 2008-06-03 14:37 lock
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-06-03 14:37 partial
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 89901 2008-06-03 06:06 security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy-security_main_binary-i386_Packages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20362 2008-06-03 06:06 security.ubuntu.com_ub...

If it's still an issue, could you please attach the file /etc/apt/source.list ?

Thanks.

I'm afraid I no longer have that virtual machine.
I switched to VirtualBox, as it supports Ubuntu much better.

Regards,

J1M.

Thanks for following up. I'm closing this report due to your last comment.

Don't hesitate to submit any new bug.