1. See the "Need more help? Tell us what problem you are having" section of
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=ph;en-us;6527
2. You cannot install some updates or programs
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;822798
3a. Check Windowsupdate.log (%windir%\Windowsupdate.log) for errors
associated with the problem.
How to read the Windowsupdate.log file
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=902093
3b. Compare errors to those listed here
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/archive...date_codes.htm and/or go to
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com > click on Help and Support link in left
pane > Solve problems on your own.
4. Windows Update Checklist:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/updtcl.htm
5. Windows Update-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/mi*croso....windowsupdate
Archive:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/....windowsupdate
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE) & Security
Tiny Tim wrote:
> I administer three laptops and a PC. Over the past 2-3 weeks, or since WGA
> and Microsoft Update came into play, trying to get updates has been an
> exercise in pot luck and mostly futility. I have got no idea what I am
> doing
> wrong but here's the scenario....
>
> One laptop is an Acer Ferrari, which I rebuilt from the Acer XP Home
> restore
> CD a week ago, applied SP2 from a Microsoft supplied CD and then went
> online
> to get further updates. That all went well. But now, a week later, when
> trying to look for the latest updates, whether I press Express or Custom,
> IE
> just sits there on the 'Checking for the latest updates for your computer'
> page with the little green processing bar going round and round and round.
> I
> am not getting told that there are are aren't any updates because nothing
> happens. I've left it like that for an hour or more with no success.
>
> Another laptop is a Dell Inspiron which I also built from a clean format a
> week ago using an SP2 slipstreamed copy of XP Pro (not a restore disc).
> Initital online updates went well but now, a week later, the laptop is
> showing the exact same symptoms as the Acer - Windows Update just hangs
> without completing.
>
> The third laptop is a Dell Inspiron running MCE 2005. That has been going
> strong for several weeks/months and I have not rebuilt it for some time.
> Updates were fine until Microsoft Update appeared and now it, like the
> other
> two laptops, is also failing to get anywhere.
>
> The PC is running MCE 2005 and is also an old build from several months
> ago.
> It has had problems recently getting updates but just now has picked up
> the
> latest bunch (8 updates from 9th August) with no problem at all.
>
> The problems are nothing to do with product keys being invalid as all
> machines are running legal software. Although having said that, the Acer
> did
> throw up a warning during WGA installation and verification that was
> completely unwarranted. I've seen other reports of similar problems with
> Acers but have no idea what the reason is. In any event, it did not cause
> a
> problem with the first few rounds of updates after the rebuild.
>
> Is there a log I should be looking at? I haven't found anything obvious. I
> even tried clearing out the Software Distribution folder completely to try
> to start again but that accomplished nothing. I am stumped. I run the
> Windows firewall on all machines, but no other firewall software and they
> all sit behind a NAT router. All are running Nod32 antivirus and have been
> recently scanned in-depth. There is no proxy server in play.
>
> The only obvious common theme is that all the laptops are failing while
> the
> PC is OK. The PC is hard wired while the laptops are all wireless. Having
> said that, the initial successful updates were all applied over a hard
> wired
> connection whereas the latest attempts have all been over WPA-PSK
> connections. Since everything else works perfectly over the wireless links
> I'd be pretty surprised if that was the problem. All four machines are
> connected to the internet via the same Netgear DG834G wireless ADSL
> router.
> Aall the laptops are running Bluetooth, but we are talking two different
> laptop brands, three different Bluetooth adapters (Broadcom, TDK, 3Com),
> two
> different wireless adapters (Broadcom, Netgear) and three different
> versions
> of XP, all having the same problem getting the updates. All the laptops
> have
> Office 2003 installed but the PC has no Office products at all as it is
> 100%
> a Media Center machine. With all the above in mind there does not seem to
> be
> any obvious reason why the laptops are failing and the PC worked (this
> time!).
>
> Any ideas what is going on/wrong?
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