16.04 apt update error: arm64 Packages not found

Question

While trying to update on my Ubuntu 16.04 system I get the following errors:

E: Failed to fetch http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/binary-arm64/Packages  404  Not Found [IP: 141.30.62.24 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/main/binary-arm64/Packages  404  Not Found [IP: 141.30.62.24 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-security/main/binary-arm64/Packages  404  Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1360:8001::17 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-backports/main/binary-arm64/Packages  404  Not Found [IP: 141.30.62.24 80]
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

I tried the solutions suggested here: 16.04 Upgrade: Failed to fetch Empty files can't be valid archives

but none of them worked for me. I've had this problem for a while now. My architecture is

amd64

Foreign archs are

i386
arm64

I cannot simply remove the ARM architecture because it is needed for the NVidia SDK I'm developing with.

Any help would be appreciated!

Solution 1

Ok so I figured out both what's the problem (thanks to you guys) and how to solve it:

The problem was that the NVidia Driveworks SKD seems to mess with apt, as in that apt tries to look for updates on the ARM architecture as well and there is no such path in the predefined package path (thanks, @guiverc). Since I can't remove the architecture because I need it for development, I changed the /etc/apt/sources.list file by adding [arch=amd64,i386] where necessary. Example:

deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial universe main restricted multiverse

Apt is then only looking for updates on those two architectures. This solved the problem.

Solution 2

You say your architecture is amd64, so I suggest you to find in the file /etc/apt/sources.list and all the files inside /etc/apt/sources.list.d that are not downloading properly and add [arch=amd64].

For example, change

deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main

URL into

deb [arch=amd64] http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main

Before editing, make a backup of these files. Once edited, try to update again your system.

Be careful. I never had to do this but if you save backups, it can't hurt.

Comments

[Aryo Adhi]

This happens because the server is unavailable. You might want to change your mirror from your regional to main, while waiting your regional mirror online again. Read more: askubuntu.com/questions/104695/…

[guiverc]

The mirror you tried using does NOT contain arm64, have a look in ubuntu-master.mirror.tudos.de/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main and you'll note no arm64. Whilst [to my knowledge] all mirrors have x86_64, you'll have to check with the arm64 arch[itecure]

[Chai T. Rex]

@AryoAdhi Servers that aren't available are hardly available to give a 404 HTTP response.

[Chai T. Rex]

Please add to your question the output of dpkg --print-architecture and dpkg --print-foreign-architectures.

[Chai T. Rex]

Possible duplicate of how to get rid of arm64 in apt

[emilaz]

Not it's not. Please see my edit.

[Chai T. Rex]

The question is an exact duplicate, down to the outputs you edited in.

[emilaz]

No, you haven't read carefully: " I cannot simply remove the ARM architecture because it is needed for the NVidia SDK I'm developing with." I managed to solve the problem though, see below.

[emilaz]

What do you mean by "other software menu"?

[Chai T. Rex]

The errors aren't from PPAs, since the webserver de.archive.ubuntu.com will hardly know what PPAs are installed on your system in order to know that you should be punished with a 404. PPAs come from the server ppa.launchpad.net, which is a different server.

[Rishav Shukla]

@emilaz in the settings menu, open software &updates, there you must be having a other software tab.

[Chai T. Rex]

The lines in /etc/apt/sources.list only go as long as http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/, and don't include the CPU architecture.

[Pierre François]

@ChaiT.Rex: Sorry, I will edit my answer. Try that (after necessary backups).