Here are some troubleshooting tips:

TIP #1

  1. Backup your sources list sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup
  2. Open the sources file /etc/apt/sources.list and rename all the instances of us.archive or archive inhttp://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/

    to

    http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/

    Also do the same for the http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/saucy-security/universe/binary-i386/Packages

  3. Run sudo apt-get update after doing the above.

TIP #2

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 40976EAF437D05B5
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 3B4FE6ACC0B21F32

TIP #3

Additional software repositories such as Universe and Multiverse can be enabled by uncommenting the corresponding apt lines (i.e. delete the ‘#’ at the beginning of the line). For Universe, uncomment those lines:

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-updates universe

There are four similar lines for ‘multiverse’.

OR you may use the add-apt-repository command. If your release is ‘saucy’:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy universe multiverse"
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-updates universe multiverse"

TIP #4

sudo gedit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

sudo apt-get update
sudo do-release-upgrade

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main restricted
universe multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-updates main restricted
universe multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security main
restricted universe multiverse

TIP #5

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo software-properties-gtk

then
APT line –  deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu saucy main

TIP #6

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
sudo apt-get clean all
sudo apt-get purge $(dpkg -l | awk '/^rc/ { print $2 }')

TIP #7

sudo sed -i 's/quantal/saucy/g' /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get clean

TIP #8

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
# Required
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-security main restricted universe multiverse

# Optional
#deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

TIP #9

Ubuntu DevelopmentCodeNames other than “saucy” – visit https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCodeNames

TIP #10

sudo sed -i s/us.archive.ubuntu/old-releases.ubuntu/g /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo sed -i s/security.ubuntu/old-releases.ubuntu/g /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo apt-get update