Ubuntu – apt-get cannot connect to Ubuntu archives

apt

I just installed a fresh version of Ubuntu 19.10 today, and the first thing I decided to do was to install GNU Screen, using sudo apt-get install screen. my output was:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package screen

I figured the package archives were not quite updated as it was a clean install so I tried sudo apt-get update. This is what I got:

Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-security InRelease [97.5 kB]      
Err:2 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan InRelease
  Cannot initiate the connection to au.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (2001:388:30bc:cafe::beef). - connect (101: Network is unreachable) Could not connect to au.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (202.158.214.106), connection timed out
Err:3 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-updates InRelease   
  Cannot initiate the connection to au.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (2001:388:30bc:cafe::beef). - connect (101: Network is unreachable)
Err:4 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu eoan-backports InRelease
  Cannot initiate the connection to au.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (2001:388:30bc:cafe::beef). - connect (101: Network is unreachable)
Fetched 97.5 kB in 31s (3,106 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
W: Failed to fetch http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/eoan/InRelease  Cannot initiate the connection to au.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (2001:388:30bc:cafe::beef). - connect (101: Network is unreachable) Could not connect to au.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (202.158.214.106), connection timed out
W: Failed to fetch http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/eoan-updates/InRelease  Cannot initiate the connection to au.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (2001:388:30bc:cafe::beef). - connect (101: Network is unreachable)
W: Failed to fetch http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/eoan-backports/InRelease  Cannot initiate the connection to au.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (2001:388:30bc:cafe::beef). - connect (101: Network is unreachable)
W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

I'm really not sure why it would be doing this, other than maybe some first-use hiccups? The computer is definitely connected to the internet, as I am writing this from that machine, and I have tried running the commands after rebooting and it still gives the errors. I can't seem to be able to connect to au.archive.ubuntu.com at all. ping au.archive.ubuntu.com just sits there without a response. If anyone could help, that would be great! If any extra information is required I'd be happy to edit it into the question.

Best Answer

I just worked it out with help from a commenter. I had to go to the 'Software and Updates' Menu and change the 'Download from:' menu to Main Server. It does seem that there is a temporary issue with the Australian servers and nothing wrong with my system.

Software & Updates

For server installations, see How do I change mirrors in Ubuntu Server from regional to main?

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