Unfixable Windows Update Failure

Quick synopsis of the problem:

I initially encountered this problem back in Decemeber 2005, but since
I was out of town until last week, I hadn't needed to fix it. In
December, Windows Update came out with a newer version of the Updater
software (aside from the actual security updates and such), and when I
tried to install it there was an error, 0x80070002. The Update
downloads, but it fails to install. Without the newer version of this
software, I can't get any security updates either.

So, I used information from this newsgroup along with sporadic help
from Microsoft the last 2 weeks and have been unable to fix the
problem. Here's what I've done so far:

First Approach
-Turned off Automatic Updates
-Deleted contents of DataStore
-Restarted Automatic Updates

Second Approach (based on Microsoft Tech advise)
-Booted in Safe Mode
-Removed SoftwareDistribution
-Removed Catroot2
-Delete WUTEMP
-Reset local hard drive permission

Third Approach (after MS Tech noticed Windows Update components had
failed to register - I sent my update logs)
-Re-registered update components using regsvr32: wuapi.dll,
wuaueng.dll, wuaueng1.dll, atl.dll, wucltui.dll, wups.dll, wups2.dll,
wuweb.dll

I've tried all the above methods numerous times, along with a couple of
other less intensive fixes I've found in this forum. Still, nothing
has worked. Waiting the 3 or 4 days between responses from Microsoft
is not useful. Anybody have other ideas?

Thanks!

By the way, I'm running XP Pro in a networked enviro (I have admin
permissions for software installs and such).


Jerry wrote:
> Quick synopsis of the problem:
>
> I initially encountered this problem back in Decemeber 2005, but since
> I was out of town until last week, I hadn't needed to fix it. In
> December, Windows Update came out with a newer version of the Updater
> software (aside from the actual security updates and such), and when I
> tried to install it there was an error, 0x80070002. The Update
> downloads, but it fails to install. Without the newer version of this
> software, I can't get any security updates either.
>
> So, I used information from this newsgroup along with sporadic help
> from Microsoft the last 2 weeks and have been unable to fix the
> problem. Here's what I've done so far:
>
> First Approach
> -Turned off Automatic Updates
> -Deleted contents of DataStore
> -Restarted Automatic Updates
>
> Second Approach (based on Microsoft Tech advise)
> -Booted in Safe Mode
> -Removed SoftwareDistribution
> -Removed Catroot2
> -Delete WUTEMP
> -Reset local hard drive permission
>
> Third Approach (after MS Tech noticed Windows Update components had
> failed to register - I sent my update logs)
> -Re-registered update components using regsvr32: wuapi.dll,
> wuaueng.dll, wuaueng1.dll, atl.dll, wucltui.dll, wups.dll, wups2.dll,
> wuweb.dll
>
> I've tried all the above methods numerous times, along with a couple of
> other less intensive fixes I've found in this forum. Still, nothing
> has worked. Waiting the 3 or 4 days between responses from Microsoft
> is not useful. Anybody have other ideas?
>
> Thanks!

In addition, I just noticed that when I went into "Services," I could
not start the Automatic Updates again. I get the message "The
Automatic Updates service on local computer started and then stopped.
Some services stop automatically when they have no work to do, for
example, the Performance Logs and Alerts service."

Help!