Ubuntu 11.10 is not longer supported, it may be that you are not getting any packages from the repositories.
Change your /etc/sources.list
to the following:
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric main
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric main
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates main
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates main
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security main
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security main
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu oneiric-security universe
And then run apt-get update
and then try again.
There is an article here with more detail.