Windows Update Problems

[Salinger]

My Acer Aspire T180. Running windows Vista Home Premium

 

Spec:

 

AMD Athlon 64 x 2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, 2200MHZ, 2 Cores, 2 Logical Processors.

Installed Physical Memory 1 GB

Total Physical Memory 767 MB

Available Physical Memory 229 MB

 

Total Virtual Memory 1.76 GB

Available Virtual Memory 677 mb

 

I recently restored factory settings as my system was running slower and slower. It appears now that Windows Update is having problems installing the updates, specifically SP1 and SP2. I have followed the recommended fixes from Windows Help. Mr Fix It and Windows download tool, but I am still getting problems with failed downloads. Unable to download SP1 and SP2. Have tried SP1 manual download but this did not work.

Have noticed Microsoft stop supporting Vista system without SP1 & 2.

Each time I turn the computer off their are updates waiting to be installed, which I do, and when turning the computer back on these continue to update / install.

Error codes for the failed installations are: 80073712, 8000FFFF, 80242006 & 80246001. I have followed the instructions to resolve these errors but appear to be gong round in circles. Any help would be most appreciated.

[RandyL]

Hi Salinger.

There are many reasons for updating errors and some probable fixes too.

 

You said you recently reinstalled Vista. I assume this is not an upgrade installation. Did you immediately go to the Control panel and run Windows updates before doing anything else?

 

Are your date and time settings correct?

Did you install anything else or surf the web before you updated?

 

Many malware infestations can block updates that is why I ask if you ran updates before doing anything else. Have you ran any virus, trojan, adware or spyware scans? Do you have an active updated antivirus program?

 

Yes there are other possibilities but since this is a freshly reformatted machine it might be easiest if you just reinstalled Vista and tried updating first before doing anything else.

[Salinger]

Thanks RandyL, can't remember exactly what I did on reinstall.

I will re-install the system and then try to install updates prior to doing anything else.

I have Microsoft Security Essentials running as my antivirus software.

 

Many thanks

[Jelly Bean]

I would say this was a corrupted install.

 

If you have Vista FULL install disk I would delete the partition during the install process and create a new one.

 

If you only have the recovery console then rerun it,however DO NOT use old settings and files as a choice.

 

If this still dont work your recovery console maybe corrupt.However do not worry we can see if we can help you further.

 

I sugest corruption on the recovery console as you have an Acer.My recent experiences with Acer showed corruption in the operating system and the recovery console.The minute I turned on my daughters netbook (Acer) I ran the usal checks and it showed corruption.We have two Acer computers at my volunteer job and both showed corrupted recovery consoles.

 

You could try right click on command prompt and choose run as admin.Typ in sfc /scannow and hit enter on your keyboard.Let sfc /scannow run and let us know what it says and if corruption was found and fixed.

[Salinger]

Jelly Bean - thanks for your response.

 

I have re-installed the system from Acer e-recovery and then updated it from Microsoft Update until all updates were installed. This appears to have solved the problem.

After re-installing an Operating System make sure the first thing you do is install all updates seems the way to go. Takes an age but system is OK now.

Many thanks for everyones input.

[RandyL]

Good to hear Salinger.

 

As Jelly Bean also pointed out yet another possible cause.

 

At least you discovered this problem shortly after a reinstall. All's well that ends well.

[Jelly Bean]

That is excellent,your up and running.

 

I hate updates.My babies netbook is still installing updates three days later.