Red X in Synaptic tray icon, Error in checkAPT.py

I'm using Firefox.

"gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list copied and pasted plus "Entered" in Terminal earned a
very unusual reply:
The box doesn't look like normal Terminal stuff. It's titled:

"google-chrome.list [Read-Only] (etc/apt/sources.list.d) - gedit (at the very top of the box in grey on lighter grey)
Then "google-chrome.list x" (in black on light grey) in the upper left hand corner.
The uppermost text within the box is:
### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ### (in blue on white. No normal black screen.)
# You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications may be lost. (in blue on white)
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main (in black on white)

Eep. What do I do to make sure that I don't comment it out, good sir?
 
OK, you did exactly what I wanted. You summoned up the text editor, and you have shown me the contents of the file named google-chrome.list. And you're right, it doesn't look like the terminal, because it isn't; it's an editor in which you can read, edit, and save text.

There's nothing to be afraid of, you can't edit that file unless you are root, so nothing you do right now can do any harm. You can close the window. 'gedit' is the name of your text editor, and you will use it quite often in Linux, so get used to it. It's just like using notepad in Windows.

Now, let's make a decision. First, is Chrome installed on your machine now? If it is, AND you want to keep it, go to option #2. If you don't want Chrome, go to option #1.

Option #1:
The short, abrupt solution to your issue is to delete the entire google-chrome.list file, since you are not using Chrome. The problem you're experiencing [the red X in Synaptic, and the failure to complete apt-get update (they're the same issue)] exists on 64-bit systems ever since Google decided to stop supporting 32-bit Chrome last month.

First, remove Chrome, if it is installed on your box now [if it's not, skip this step]:
Code: 
sudo apt-get remove google-chrome

When that is done, remove the file we're after:

Code: 
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
Enter your password, and be done with it. NEXT CUSTOMER!! [you're done]

Now, go back to your terminal and run:

Code: 
sudo apt-get update

It should complete now, and I would be a bit surprised if the red X remains in synaptic.

Option #2:
If you have some plans to install or use Chrome later, you can follow these instructions. If you follow this option, you are going to edit that file, and I'm going to show you how. But before we edit it, we are going to save a backup copy of the file. Open a new terminal, and paste this command into the terminal:

Code: 
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list-BACKUP

This creates a copy of the file, and names it google-chrome.list-BACKUP. Confirm that you have done it correctly:

Code: 
ls -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

If you see the BACKUP file, do this:

Code: 
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

Notice it's the same command you used before, BUT this time, we call gedit with sudo. This means that gedit will now be able to edit system files as root. You can't edit the files in /etc without sudo, because they are system configuration files; the permissions on those files allow ONLY a superuser to access them for editing.

An editor window will open again, and you will see the same file contents you saw before. YOU ARE NOW ROOT IN THIS EDITOR WINDOW. Look for the line that says:

Code: 
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

and CAREFULLY EDIT it to read

deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main

All you are doing is adding the [arch=amd64] after 'deb' and before 'http'. This sets the repo to 64-bit only, and fixes your issue.

When you've done that, save and exit the editor, the same way you would do in Windows.

Now, go back to your terminal and run:

Code: 
sudo apt-get update

It should complete now, and I would be a bit surprised if the red X remains in synaptic.
 
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Thank you for your invaluable help, ThunderRd!

I have both Chrome and Firefox. I use Chrome only for Netflix --and for times when being unable to update Flash in Firefox makes it impossible to use the Firefox browser. Updating Flash (which should be freakin' extinct because it's a security disaster) for Firefox isn't easy in Linux.

However, it's also not updated in Chrome--but this isn't anywhere near the pita issue it is in Firefox.

I'm mentioning this to let folks know that it is a problem that I can't seem to fix. It's been on the back burner in order to sort out other more important problems.

So, should I go ahead with Option #2 as if this pita Flash issue wasn't pertinent?

Thank you ThunderRd!
 
Yeah, go ahead with #2, and skip #1 entirely. After you finish #2, synaptic will most likely offer a Chrome update, which you should install.

Flash is something we can work on later.
 
Thanks ThunderRd!

Got this response after cutting and pasting your first command, plus hitting "Enter" in Option #2:

cp: cannot create regular file '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list-BACKUP' : Permission denied .

As usual, I don't know why this happened. Apologies!
 
Not your fault.

Sorry George, I forgot the 'sudo'. Do it again with 'sudo' first. Anytime you work in /etc, you must be root.

I'll edit the command.
 
I actually thought that a "sudo" might be missing. Unfortunately I don't know EXACTLY where "sudo" belongs, so I still don't know what I should about it. Mea culpa. Thank you ThunderRd, I think I'll wait till tomorrow to address this, the nervousity factor is high right now.

Thank you very much!
 
Just start any post to Terminal where your likely to change things or at lest gain the power to change things.

sudo just asks terminal to make you root. So you can start a session with it or wait until you need to
 
Thank you very, very much ThunderRd! Thank you very much Daniel~!

I think I followed all of the instructions in Option #2 correctly.
After the last "apt-get" command a whole bunch of stuff was updated.

But the last line says:
N: Ignoring file 'google-chrome.list-BACKUP' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d' as it has an invalid filename extension

Well, I suppose that's better than a "W:" line, followed by an "E:" line.
 
Thank you ThunderRd!

The "information" choice from the "shield's" right click menu is now new and improved.

The troublesome "Error in checkAPT.py, could not refresh list of updates" is still there.
HOWEVER, that's no longer the last line in the "information" window. It's followed by:
"Starting refresh (including refreshing the APT cache)" and:
"Found 20 recommended software updates
Refresh finished"

And No *&6%5$ RED "X" raises it's ugly head on the shield logo in the tray. Yay! Or perhaps I should say "Synaptic
Tray Icon?
Thank you Sir ThunderRd!

Unfortunately I don't know how to turn the recommended "refresh" list into installed updates.
The first time I tried I messed it up.
 
Everything you see is normal.

Please run
Code: 
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list-BACKUP

Then:

Code: 
sudo apt-get update

again.

After that, please update Chrome:

Code: 
sudo apt-get install --reinstall google-chrome

Then ask the Mint users here exactly how to use your Synaptic window with regard to refresh, update and etc. I don't use Synaptic, I do it all on the CL, so I don't know the details, but I can assure you your issues are fixed.
 
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For me the hardest part of learning to use Terminal...is learning to accept yes for an answer!
Linux really could be more reassuring at times":O}
 
Thank you ThunderRd!
The first command in your post #32 returns:
rm: cannot remove '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list-BACKUP' : No such file or directory

I think the absence of the BACKUP chrome file was noticed in an earlier post? My post #30?
 
Code: 
ls -l /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

It was ignored by apt-get in the earlier post, so it WAS actually there. We know it was there, because we created it. But we don't want it anymore, now that the editing is done.

Maybe apt-get deleted it automatically. 'ls' will tell us.
 
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Thank you ThunderRd!
Your command from your post #36 gets the following reply:
"-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59 Feb 29 20:17 getdeb.list
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 189 Apr 3 19:36 google-chrome.list
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 420 Mar 18 19:12 official-package-repositories.list"

The "rw-r--r 1 root root" lines up vertically speaking perfectly in Terminal. Only a human here, while I attempt to perfectly reproduce these files I can't hope for such perfection.

Ya know, sometimes these Linux "things" seem a little kwazy.
 
Ok, it went away.

Now follow the 2 other steps in post #32.

You really have to figure out how to do the copy/paste thingy. It would make your life so much easier. :)
 
Thank you so much for your assistance, ThunderRd!
Daniel~ gave me a great example to follow to cut and paste command lines that you post directly to the Terminal. I've been using it successfully for quite a while. Thank you again, Daniel~!
 
"sudo apt-get update" downloaded the longest list yet.
I think that google put some updates in the wrong place on their site, or doesn't care about Linux users, or maybe it's the 32-bit/64-bit thing?

'sudo apt-get install --reinstall google-chrome" returned:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package google-chrome

I think that this is Google's fault. Thanks Emporers of the internet!

Wouldn't it be nice if Chrome wasn't the biggest pita? I only use it for Netflix and the few sites that won't accept my UN-Flash updated Firefox browser. For all I know the lack of the latest Flash (oh, you are SO cool Flash!) update in my Firefox browser is leaving me open to bad things.

Thank you very much for all of your help ThunderRd!
 
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