dpkg error ofter synaptic

[Slimjimmy]

I was getting updates using Synaptic Package Manager when it seemed to be stuck for about 30 minutes. Restarted and got this message:

E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem. 
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

Ran dpkg --configure -a , and got this message:

dpkg: parse error, in file `/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0017' near line 1:
 newline in field name `#padding'

Running apt-get update results in same error. Running on a persistant usb. Any other info needed?
Still kinda new to linux.

Thanks for any info.