Hi Ivan
The short answer is, "I dunno" :-) But, let me expand on that ....
As you discerned, it looks like Windows Update has become stuck. There are
two log files which you can examine, to get extra diagnostic clues about
what is wrong:
C:\Windows\WindowsUpdate.log
and
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\ReportingEvents.lo g
These are plain text files, you can examine them with Notepad or any other
text editor. They are sequential so the most recent events are written at
the bottom of each file. The goal here will be to look for more specific
error messages about what is wrong, for example a 0x00000005 "Access Denied"
error, or a 0x00000002 "File not found" error. If you identify a clear
error, your further troubleshooting would proceed from that point (report
back here if necessary).
If you look through those files and still can't see what's wrong (very
possible), you might decide to pull the pin and re-initialise the whole
Windows Update cache. The procedure would be:
- Open a Command Prompt "as Administrator"
- cd %windir%
- net stop wuauserv (stops Windows Update Service)
- move C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.OLD
(rename the Update cache)
- net start wuauserv
- now try to run Windows Update normally.
- if everything works okay, you can delete the SoftwareDistribution.OLD
directry. If everything goes bad, rename it back to SoftwareDistribution to
get back to the previous configuration.
In addition, you'll want to make sure you have the latest drivers and
firmware updates for your xW6400, from the HP website. HP released a BIOS
update in December 2008 which will prevent some spurious reboots, version
02.35 Rev. a. Likewise, there are several updated drivers for both 32 bit
and 64 bit Vista. See here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...NameId=1844975
Other folks may have additional ideas for you. Hope this helps,
Andrew
--
amclar at optusnet dot com dot au