Problems with Update and other oddities

I am trying to run a manual update with Microsoft Update and the
system just keeps scrolling the bar like it is thinking but it never
gets to a point to tell me if it has any updates or not. Further,
after it has been running for awhile, the theme for the desktop
changes like I have some corruption or something. I have also seen
this on other systems, they are all running XP Pro with Nvidia
graphics cards. This system is a friend of mine so I have not had too
long to trouble shoot it, but something is odd to say the least. Any
ideas or help is greatly appreciated...

 

Got the same problem. Manual update was running. I heard a mouse click.
Looked at my system Update Screen was hung. Then Update Screen went blank.
My desktop settings changed also. Had to do system restore get the desktop
back. But Manual Update just will not work. Something is odd.

 

Same problems here. It is the second time my system has done this. The
first time I did a compete reinstall since it was relatively a new system.
Today I accomplished a Windows update whe this problem occured. I found it
odd that my system had not conducted an update since 8 Jun because I have
automatic updates set for every night. It was stable for a moment, and then
started again for about 4 minutes. Then about 30 minutes ago the problem
stopped completely

Looking at the System event log I noticed hundreds of 7036 Service Messages
noted in the past 7 hours, nearly 400 from 6 to 7 PM when I was trying to
find a fix to the problem, and only 33 since I logged into IE7. The last
surprisingly occured over 30 minutes ago and coincides with last episode of
the scroll problem. I hope this information helps someone who knows Windows
pinpoint the problem, and that this problem stays away.