Long History of Failed Updates

Hello Update Gurus, and Happy New Year:

I have just reinstalled Win XP Sp2 (Media Center Edition) on a Pentium 4
with 2 Gb Ram.

Quite a number of the updates did not wish to install properly, although the
boxes following the update gave the usual message about the update being
completed, and often asking for a reboot.

Then the little yellow shield would reappear, with updates ready to install,
and I would notice that it was one just completed.

In checking my Update history, it seems that about 50% of the updates that
were to have been unstalled have failed. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to
discover any helpful information, or cause for the failures. In one case, I
got a failure code: Error Code: 0xF00B0004 , but am not able to find this
code anywhere on the Microsft site, nor even on the web.

I expect that something has crept into the registry, or some other file has
somehow been corrupted, and that it is causing these updates to fail. My
virus checking and anti-spyware programs are not finding any nasty
critters-in-hiding. The Microsoft Anti-Malicious Tools seems to be installing
correctly, and has produced no warnings or other indications of that sort of
problem.

I would appreciate any suggestions that a wiser one that I would like to
suggest.

Thanks in advance for your interest.

--
Cheers,

Peter

PeterDr wrote:
> Hello Update Gurus, and Happy New Year:
>
> I have just reinstalled Win XP Sp2 (Media Center Edition) on a
> Pentium 4 with 2 Gb Ram.
>
> Quite a number of the updates did not wish to install properly,
> although the boxes following the update gave the usual message
> about the update being completed, and often asking for a reboot.
>
> Then the little yellow shield would reappear, with updates ready to
> install, and I would notice that it was one just completed.
>
> In checking my Update history, it seems that about 50% of the
> updates that were to have been unstalled have failed. I have tried,
> unsuccessfully, to discover any helpful information, or cause for
> the failures. In one case, I got a failure code: Error Code:
> 0xF00B0004 , but am not able to find this code anywhere on the
> Microsft site, nor even on the web.
>
> I expect that something has crept into the registry, or some other
> file has somehow been corrupted, and that it is causing these
> updates to fail. My virus checking and anti-spyware programs are
> not finding any nasty critters-in-hiding. The Microsoft
> Anti-Malicious Tools seems to be installing correctly, and has
> produced no warnings or other indications of that sort of problem.
>
> I would appreciate any suggestions that a wiser one that I would
> like to suggest.
>
> Thanks in advance for your interest.

Ignore the title of the first web link...

Updates are not installed successfully from Windows Update,
from Microsoft Update, or by using Automatic Updates after
you repair a Windows XP installation
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144

Can't figure that out?

Get Dial-a-Fix:
http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix

Use its options to fix:
- Windows Installer
- Windows Update
- All the Registration Center options.

Turn off the "Empty System32\Catroot 2"
Do NOT do "Flush SoftwareDistribution".

Then click "GO" and wait until it is done... Reboot will be needed.

- Download/Install Windows Update v3.

http://download.windowsupdate.com/Wi...gent30-x86.exe
(You *may* need to install it using the command line switch "/wuforce"
right after the reboot - immediately after logging in.)

- Download/Install the 927891 patch.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...9-404327772E5A

- Reboot.

- Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and scan for/install updates.

- Come back and let us know how things went!

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Updates are not installed successfully from Windows Update,
from Microsoft Update, or by using Automatic Updates after
you repair a Windows XP installation:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

---------------------------------------------------------------

"PeterDr" wrote:

Hello Update Gurus, and Happy New Year:

I have just reinstalled Win XP Sp2 (Media Center Edition) on a Pentium 4
with 2 Gb Ram.

Quite a number of the updates did not wish to install properly, although the
boxes following the update gave the usual message about the update being
completed, and often asking for a reboot.

Then the little yellow shield would reappear, with updates ready to install,
and I would notice that it was one just completed.

In checking my Update history, it seems that about 50% of the updates that
were to have been unstalled have failed. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to
discover any helpful information, or cause for the failures. In one case, I
got a failure code: Error Code: 0xF00B0004 , but am not able to find this
code anywhere on the Microsft site, nor even on the web.

I expect that something has crept into the registry, or some other file has
somehow been corrupted, and that it is causing these updates to fail. My
virus checking and anti-spyware programs are not finding any nasty
critters-in-hiding. The Microsoft Anti-Malicious Tools seems to be installing
correctly, and has produced no warnings or other indications of that sort of
problem.

I would appreciate any suggestions that a wiser one that I would like to
suggest.

Thanks in advance for your interest.

--
Cheers,

Peter