Bug#38530: apt-get update hangs my machine (potato, powerpc)

[reaper@umich.edu (Sean McMillan)]

Package: apt
Version 0.3.6

        If I run apt-get update, it will happily go out and download all
the package files, then hang my machine at the "Reading Package Files..."
Line. (I believe that is while it creates the pkgcache.bin files, since
they almost always end up corrupted.) It freezes at any number of different
percentages.

        The most frustrating part is that it works about 15% of the time,
so I keep trying. It also seems to work more often if I'm using a source
other than debian's main archive. (I was using the gnome-stage-2 archive
for a while, and that worked if it was the only source I had listed)

        When it locks up, I can still switch virtual consoles, and
sometimes I can type into one, but I can never successfully start a new
program (say, for example...kill?) The only way out is to reboot my
machine, and then play with fsck.