Unable to update system - tried updating mirror list first but still not updating

[kogswell]

i have a system that has not been updated for a while (probably a few months). I’m not able to update using pacman -Syu.

I tried updating the mirrors, as suggested in these 2 forum posts:
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/pacman-error-failed-retrieving-file-core-db-from-mirrors-piconets-webwerks-in/111695
and
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/unable-to-perform-system-updates/116686

Searching the forums, I tried to update the mirror list:

[jlb@gilgamesh ~]$ sudo pacman-mirrors -f5
[sudo] password for jlb: 
::INFO Downloading mirrors from Manjaro
::INFO => Mirror pool: https://repo.manjaro.org/mirrors.json
::INFO => Mirror status: https://repo.manjaro.org/status.json
::INFO Using custom mirror file
::INFO Querying mirrors - This may take some time
  ..... United_States  : https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  ..... United_States  : https://ask4.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  ..... United_States  : https://opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/
  ..... United_States  : https://mirrors.sonic.net/manjaro/
  ..... United_States  : https://repo.ialab.dsu.edu/manjaro/
::INFO Writing mirror list
::United_States   : https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://repo.ialab.dsu.edu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://opencolo.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://mirrors.sonic.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::United_States   : https://ask4.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
::INFO Mirror list generated and saved to: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

which looks like it indeed updated the list, but still get the error when trying to update the system:

[jlb@gilgamesh ~]$ sudo pacman -Syu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core.db failed to download
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from forksystems.mm.fcix.net : Resolving timed out after 10001 milliseconds
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from repo.ialab.dsu.edu : Resolving timed out after 10001 milliseconds
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from opencolo.mm.fcix.net : Resolving timed out after 10000 milliseconds
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirrors.sonic.net : Resolving timed out after 10001 milliseconds
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from ask4.mm.fcix.net : Resolving timed out after 10000 milliseconds
error: failed to synchronize all databases (download library error)

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jerry

[Yochanan]

Please edit your post and format the terminal output properly so it’s easier to read:

[HowTo] Post command output and file content as formatted text

Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆ Formatting differences Discourse – this forum’s engine – uses Markdown to format its posts, and removes “unnecessary” whitespace. Terminal commands often produce output formatted so that they are better readable by the user, taking advantage of the monospaced font used. Programming code often rely on indentation to make it more readable. Using preformatting in Markdown Markdown includes a pattern to provide preformatting when necessary. You only need to put the part to f…

@kogswell

Any help greatly appreciated.

Most people will not bother answering if they can’t read the output, by the way.

This reply will self-destruct once you make the requested edits.

[Teo]

Looks like a DNS problem to me. Or a firewall. Make sure yours is disabled and that there is not another one on the router, restart the router, try internet from another source if you can.

[ruziel]

Try the following:

sudo pacman-mirrors --continent && sudo pacman -Syyu

The retry your update. I hope you find a fix soon

[xabbu]

@kogswell

::INFO Using custom mirror file

You should remove your custom mirror file and use the default.

[kogswell]

Thank you for the answers. I think I got the formatting correct now, but let me know if there’s still an issue.

I’m not too well versed in DNS and firewall, but the Manjaro firewall is disabled (I’m looking at the firewall GUI in settings). I did reset the router and I am able to ping the first few mirrors after ‘sudo pacman-mirrors --continent’ as ruziel suggested. Does that indicate that the DNS is working correctly and the problem is elsewhere?

[jlb@gilgamesh ~]$ ping mirrors.gigenet.com
PING mirrors.gigenet.com (69.65.16.171) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from mirrors.gigenet.com (69.65.16.171): icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=23.7 ms
64 bytes from mirrors.gigenet.com (69.65.16.171): icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=23.2 ms
64 bytes from mirrors.gigenet.com (69.65.16.171): icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=23.2 ms
^C
--- mirrors.gigenet.com ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 23.175/23.344/23.662/0.225 ms

[jlb@gilgamesh ~]$ ping forksystems.mm.fcix.net
PING forksystems.mm.fcix.net (23.147.64.7) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 23.147.64.7: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=26.3 ms
64 bytes from 23.147.64.7: icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=26.6 ms
64 bytes from 23.147.64.7: icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=26.7 ms
^C
--- forksystems.mm.fcix.net ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 26.312/26.534/26.680/0.159 ms

While the mirrors did return ping, it did take a few seconds for the 1st response to show up.

@xabbu, Does your suggestion mean to eliminate the newly generated mirror list file?
I am evidently using the newly generated file, as the update attempt is using the mirrors generated when I do ‘pacman-mirrors —continent’

Output from pacman-mirrors --conrtinent (shortened (I cut out the middle several mirrors found)):

[jlb@gilgamesh ~]$ sudo pacman-mirrors --continent
[sudo] password for jlb: 
::INFO Downloading mirrors from Manjaro
::INFO => Mirror pool: https://repo.manjaro.org/mirrors.json
::INFO => Mirror status: https://repo.manjaro.org/status.json
::INFO User generated mirror list
::------------------------------------------------------------
::INFO Custom mirror file saved: /var/lib/pacman-mirrors/custom-mirrors.json
::INFO Using default mirror file
::INFO Querying mirrors - This may take some time
  ..... Canada         : https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/manjaro/
  ..... Canada         : https://mirror.xenyth.net/manjaro/
  ..... Canada         : https://muug.ca/mirror/manjaro/
  ..... Costa_Rica     : https://mirrors.ucr.ac.cr/manjaro/
  ..... United_States  : http://mirror.fcix.net/manjaro/
...
::Costa_Rica      : https://mirrors.ucr.ac.cr/manjaro/stable
::United_States   : https://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/manjaro/stable
::United_States   : https://ask4.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable
::United_States   : https://mirrors.sonic.net/manjaro/stable
::INFO Mirror list generated and saved to: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

and the output from sudo pacman -Syyu (also shortened):

[jlb@gilgamesh ~]$ sudo pacman -Syyu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core.db failed to download
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirrors.gigenet.com : Resolving timed out after 10000 milliseconds
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from forksystems.mm.fcix.net : Resolving timed out after 10001 milliseconds
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from coresite.mm.fcix.net : Resolving timed out after 10000 milliseconds
...
error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirrors.sonic.net : Resolving timed out after 10001 milliseconds
error: failed to synchronize all databases (download library error)

Thank you again for your help and please let me know what I may try next.

Thank you,
Jerry

[Takakage]

What is the output from

cat /etc/resolv.conf

[kogswell]

jlb@gilgamesh ~]$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Generated by NetworkManager
nameserver 192.168.254.254
nameserver 192.168.68.1

[Teo]

That is definitely weird for a home router. What device is it? Or is it something bigger like hotel or a student dormitory, with externally managed routers.

[kogswell]

So this machine is on a mesh network (TP-link Deco) to extend the range. The Deco is connected to the router. The router itself has the following DNS servers listed:

DNS Address #1:	166.102.165.13
DNS Address #2:	207.91.5.20

[Teo]

Well you can try and test if it will make any difference if you manually set a dns in the properties of the connection in network manager (it think it just edits resolv.conf). Something like 8.8.8.8. or 9.9.9.9. You may also want to disable ipv6 for the test.
By default manjaro caches nothing so you will immediately see if that was the problem.

[Nachlese]

@kogswell

sudo pacman-mirrors --continent
[sudo] password for jlb: 
::INFO Downloading mirrors from Manjaro
::INFO => Mirror pool: https://repo.manjaro.org/mirrors.json

This command - just like the previous one:
sudo pacman-mirrors -f

is using and relying on the mirror pool

I have seen people having problems with it.
I don’t know why.

Use a specific country to generate the list, for example:

sudo pacman-mirrors -c Germany

I can vouch for this one to be producing working results
It will work, even if it is not the closest to you and thus may not be the fastest.

You can also set a custom DNS in the NetworkManager GUI.
No need to rely on whatever you get offered by your provider or through your router.

[kogswell]

So initially I tried to add a nameserver in the GUI (I was offered “Advanced Network Configuration” when I searched for the network manager. I added a DNS of 8.8.8.8, as suggested, and disabled IPv6, then attempted to update, but it was unsuccessful.

I checked resolv.conf, and found that the nameserver 8.8.8.8 was not added, so I edited the file to include it, and again did ‘pacman -Syu’, and the system is now updating as normal. Success!

I’m not sure why I was not successful using the network manager GUI… maybe I was using the wrong GUI (?) It was “Advanced Network Configuration” in the menu, and I was editing a panel called “Network Connections”.

I guess that something must have changed in the past couple of months with my router or mesh network to cause the issue… not sure what, and I didn’t check resolve.conf specifically before, so I don’t know what is the root cause of this issue, but it is working now and I’m able to update.

Thank you all very much for your responses and help!
Jerry

[Nachlese]

custom DNS:

• you right click on the Network panel icon
• you choose “edit connections”
• you click on your connection and open it’s settings - or just double click on it
• in the fifth (5) tab you change the method from
  “automatic (DHCP)” to: “automatic (DHCP), addresses only”
• then you fill in one or two DNS servers of your choice in the aptly named box below
• done

same for the sixth tab (IPv6) - disable the protocol - or do the same as for IPv4

[kogswell]

Thanks. Good to know how to get to it… But yeah, that’s the same GUI I was using. I got to it by searching the menu for “Network” and found “Advanced Network Configuration”. For me it was the 6th tab (1-general, 2-Ehternet, 3-802.1X Security, 4-DCB, 5-Proxy, 6=IPv4 Settings, 7-IPv6 settings). But when I entered 8.8.8.8 in the "Additional DNS servers line and saved, I still was not able to update.

I had to manually edit the resolv.conf file to add the nameserver, and after that the update worked.

Thank you again,
Jerry

[Nachlese]

@kogswell

But when I entered 8.8.8.8 in the "Additional DNS servers line and saved …

The key part in my description of the process was this:

@Nachlese

• in the fifth (5) tab you change the method from
  “automatic (DHCP)” to: “automatic (DHCP), addresses only”

It’s the first, the topmost thing you see and can click on.

If you don’t do this - your DNS servers will not be used - or only be used when the “not custom” ones both failed to respond.
… not what you want

[kogswell]

Ahh, ok. Got it. I’ll try that.

Thank you very much.
Jerry