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Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
skype : Depends: skype-bin but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

That is the error message I receive when I try to install skype with terminal. Synaptics gives an error message about fixing broken something or other and when I click fix it it gives another error. Can anyone help me?

I tried deb package. This loads Ubuntu Software Center for me which is a major no no. It lags and crashes my system constantly and I have no problem using Synaptic for installing most programs but says broken package for skype and errors when attempting to fix it. I have tried every way I can think of it to get anything to work and nothing will. Just downloaded ubuntu 12.04 or whatever and I'll settle for any working version of skype just help me.

user127083
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  • did you try to install from a .deb package? – Ramin Omrani Jan 29 '13 at 18:11
  • Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! How exactly are you attempting to install Skype? What is the reason for a manual install? It should be available in the Software Centre. Also, include more information: Ubuntu version, Skype version you're trying to install, 32-bit/64-bit system, etc. Do this by editing your question. – gertvdijk Jan 29 '13 at 18:19
  • I tried deb package. This loads Ubuntu Software Center for me which is a major no no. It lags and crashes my system constantly and I have no problem using Synaptic for installing most programs. I have tried every way I can think of it to get anything to work and nothing will. – user127083 Jan 29 '13 at 20:00
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    Could you please paste the "another error" you get when you ask Synaptic to fix your broken packages? – Andrea Corbellini Jan 29 '13 at 20:09
  • What exact "deb package" did you use? Skype is available in the software centre directly! No need to use third-party ones. – gertvdijk Jan 29 '13 at 20:11
  • When I attempt to install in Synaptic it says "Could not apply changes! Fix broken packages first". When I click Fix Broken Packages, it says "E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages. E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages. E: Unable to correct dependencies E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages. E: Unable to correct dependencies" – user127083 Jan 29 '13 at 20:21
  • Ubuntu Software Center makes my system laggy and unresponsive and eventually crashes it. That is why I've tried various different ways to install this and am open to anyone who can tell me what to do. – user127083 Jan 29 '13 at 20:23
  • Softwqare center says "Package Dependencies could not be resolved. This error could be caused by required additional software packages which are missing or not installable. Furthermore there could be a conflict between software packages which are not allowed to be installed at the same time." – user127083 Jan 29 '13 at 20:28
  • @user127083 Please edit your question to include new information. The comments are not fit for this amount of response. It's a Q&A site, not a discussion forum. If you don't want to use Software Centre, then use another package management tool, for example Synaptic, Muon or the command-line apt-get. Can you try to run sudo apt-get install -f to see if you can fix broken packages? Also include the output of apt-cache policy skype* in your question to see what the current state of the skype packages is on your system. – gertvdijk Jan 29 '13 at 22:37

1 Answers1

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One problem I have had with Skype running a 64-bit machine is not having ia32-libs.

Or this might help you Installing skype will not work - skype-bin not installable, and 'held broken packages'

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Simon Hoare
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