I'm running HTSeq to get counts on a sam file following the below steps,

samtools sort -n tmp.bam nameSrt
samtools fixmate nameSrt.bam nameSrt.fixmate.bam
samtools view -h  nameSrt.fixmate.bam >nameSrt.fixmate.sam

python -m HTSeq.scripts.count -f sam -r name -s $ss_library -a 10 -t exon -i $feature -m union nameSrt.fixmate.sam tmp.gff > tmp.HTSeq.counts

However, I get the below error:

Error occured when processing SAM input (line 77320836 of file nameSrt.fixmate.sam):
 ("Malformed SAM line: MRNM == '*' although flag bit &0x0008 cleared", 'line 77320836 of file nameSrt.fixmate.sam')
 [Exception type: ValueError, raised in _HTSeq.pyx:1323]

77320836 is the last line in the file, and it doesn't have MRNM set to '*'. Here are the last 4 lines from the SAM file:

HISEQ:512:C8CNYACXX:6:2316:21397:43838    141    *    0    0    *    *    0    0    GCAGAGAGCCTACCTGGATTGCACGTGCGTGGAGTGGTTCTGCAGATACCTGGAGAATGGGAAGGTGAAGTTGCNACGCACGGAAGCACCCAAGGGAAAT    ==<AAA7A;>AA+77@BA7+3+,2<<?1?AA61?:>A080*=?==*)79)/=A(=7=7)=>))5;))).).665#(,((,,3;',)8(((+((((((+((    RG:Z:160108_SN172_0512_BC8CNYACXX_CTTGTA_L006
HISEQ:512:C8CNYACXX:6:2316:21397:70573    409    12    125396664    3    100M    *    0    0    NCGGCTCCACTTCGAGAGTGATGGTNTTACCAGTCAGGGTCTTCACGAAGATCTGCATCCCACCTCTAAGACGGAGCACCAGGTGCAGGGTGGACTCTTT    <<8+(:C><895@:>@@;>>;,,,(#;B>FFDDCA;FIGEHCC?IGGHGHCCFD;IGBGGDDHHGFCIFGIGHHHFHFFFE9IGGG@HFHFDDFFDD@@B    CC:Z:=    MD:Z:0T24C74    XG:i:0    NH:i:2    HI:i:0    NM:i:2    XM:i:2    XN:i:0    XO:i:0    CP:i:125396892    AS:i:-2    XS:A:-    YT:Z:UU    RG:Z:160108_SN172_0512_BC8CNYACXX_CTTGTA_L006
HISEQ:512:C8CNYACXX:6:2316:21397:70573    101    12    125396892    0    *    =    125396892    0    NGGATGCCTTCCTTGTCTTGGATCTTTGCCTTGACATTCTCAATGGTGTCACTCGGCTCCACTTCGAGAGTGATGGTCTNNANAGTCAGGGTCTTCACGN    #1+=ADDDHHDDFHIAHBHHIFHDHI,AAEHIIGFEEG?D:C@?GGBGH?FEF9DF(?<B838C@HFG(;DE?ECEH7;##(#(,5;=CCB?C?@>>@B1    RG:Z:160108_SN172_0512_BC8CNYACXX_CTTGTA_L006    MQ:i:3
HISEQ:512:C8CNYACXX:6:2316:21397:70573    1177    12    125396892    3    100M    =    125396892    0    NCGGCTCCACTTCGAGAGTGATGGTNTTACCAGTCAGGGTCTTCACGAAGATCTGCATCCCACCTCTAAGACGGAGCACCAGGTGCAGGGTGGACTCTTT    <<8+(:C><895@:>@@;>>;,,,(#;B>FFDDCA;FIGEHCC?IGGHGHCCFD;IGBGGDDHHGFCIFGIGHHHFHFFFE9IGGG@HFHFDDFFDD@@B    MD:Z:0T24C74    XG:i:0    NH:i:2    HI:i:1    NM:i:2    XM:i:2    XN:i:0    XO:i:0    AS:i:-2    XS:A:-    YT:Z:UU    RG:Z:160108_SN172_0512_BC8CNYACXX_CTTGTA_L006

I'm trying to understand SAM format better but I still can't figure out a solution in this case. Appreciate any help to solve this.