Repaired/reactivated XP SP2 :: automatic windows update failing. - Windows Update

red_onion

January 28, 2008 12:35:49 PM

I have an e-mail into the good folks at Microsoft about this issue, but while I wait for them to respond, I thought I'd ask here.

After a significant upgrade to my homebuilt, I had to repair and reactivate Windows XP SP2 from my OEM CD. No problems there and everything seems to be working fine with one exception: windows updates. That little yellow shield sits in my tray with an update for Windows Installer 3.1 (oh the irony), and every time I try to install it, it fails. I don't get any error messages (unless I just don't know where to look for them); it just fails and tells me it failed. And there that yellow shield sits. Every time I shut down, it tries again and fails to install.

The other bit of odd is that, when I go online to the updates area of microsoft.com, there's nothing in my history. No updates listed as being successful, and none as having failed. Plainly something is amiss.

If anybody has experienced this and was able to solve, please share. Thanks for any help.

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g-paw

January 28, 2008 8:19:36 PM

Windows update requires the installation of Active X, usually a small yellow band at the top of the Web page to grant permission. Probably the solution isn't this simple

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cranbers

January 31, 2008 1:51:25 AM

Did you try and go to windowsupdate via internet explorer under the pull down menu instead of just using the auto update install?

If not, run over to www.windowsupdate.com click through to intall the express updates from there. let us know what happens.

It sounded like you just went there to check your history, you didn't say the updates failed there as well.

Also what version of ie are you using? 6 or 7?

What exact version of xp are you using?

If you are using ie6, try downloading ie7 manually and installing via microsoft download on the website. This may allow you to do a Microsoft update.

if all else fails, reinstall. it may take less time then trying to troubleshoot these weird problems.

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red_onion

February 4, 2008 12:29:34 AM

Thanks for the comments. This turned out to be no big deal; the folks at Microsoft e-mailed me with instructions on what I should delete on my machine and a zipped .bat file I could run afterwards to set myself up again. I'm updating painlessly once more.

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