If it helps at all, I see the following entry in /var/log/kern.log each time the problem occurs. rred[28536]: segfault at bf56cf84 ip b74958af sp bf56cf88 error 6 in libc-2.10.1.so[b742e000+141000] I have apt 0.7.24 and libc6 2.10.1-5 installed.