Repaired/reactivated XP SP2 :: automatic windows update failing.

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.

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.