Windows Vista Update Not Working

[fnmcomputers]

I've been working on this Dell laptop for a couple days. I got rid of some viruses it had on it and cleaned things up a bit. I thought I was all done went to do windows update only to find it not working.

It says "To check for updates, you must first install an update for Windows update. Your automatic updating settings will no change" "To install the update, Windows update will automatically close and re-open."

It does close and reopen to the same message and I am stuck in this loop. I downloaded the SP1 install and tried to run that manually but it gets to the end and gives me an error, I think it was 800F0900. I'm about to re-install but I would hate to because everything else seems to be working fine. Any suggestions would be great.

I also have a balloon in the sytem tray for windows update that says "Windows can't check for updates, click to see how to fix"

Thanks,

 

[ell]

is automatic updates listed in services? If it is and its disabled, change it to auto. If its not there run chkdsk /r from vista cd repair option, if that doesn't work try sfc

 

[Chaser7783]

A solution that was worked for in the past would be to,
1) Stop the Automatic Update service.
2) rename the Software Distribution folder in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution to something like SoftwareDistribution.old
3) restart the Automatic Update service then reboot your machine.

Sometimes that file get's corrupted and is not readable so the update service cannot download update to the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download file or is unable to read the current updates installed.

 

[fnmcomputers]

A solution that was worked for in the past would be to,
1) Stop the Automatic Update service.
2) rename the Software Distribution folder in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution to something like SoftwareDistribution.old
3) restart the Automatic Update service then reboot your machine.

Sometimes that file get's corrupted and is not readable so the update service cannot download update to the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download file or is unable to read the current updates installed.

Thanks for the info, but still the same. I still have the balloon that says "windows can't check for updates" and it still seems to be caught in this loop. I says it is downloading and installing but I never see a real progress bar and it closes the update window, opens it back up and it back to where it started but it gives me the error "Code 800F0900 Windows update encountered an unknown error"

 

[ell]

Thanks for the info, but still the same. I still have the balloon that says "windows can't check for updates" and it still seems to be caught in this loop. I says it is downloading and installing but I never see a real progress bar and it closes the update window, opens it back up and it back to where it started but it gives me the error "Code 800F0900 Windows update encountered an unknown error"

give combofix or gmer a try, sounds like you may still be infected.

 

[Cue]

Check if the windows date and time are correct, that can cause all sorts of crazy things.

Also, you can try to reinstall the windows update service with this
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
use the " /wuforce" switch to force it to install.

 

[fnmcomputers]

Check if the windows date and time are correct, that can cause all sorts of crazy things.

Also, you can try to reinstall the windows update service with this
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
use the " /wuforce" switch to force it to install.

Thanks for all the tips, tried them all with no luck. I ran out of time and ended up doing a re-install. Thanks again for the help

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

i knowe you hve probably checked but what does manually going to the windowsupdate.microsoft.com site give you as an error.

 

[allanc]

Thanks for the info, but still the same. I still have the balloon that says "windows can't check for updates" and it still seems to be caught in this loop. I says it is downloading and installing but I never see a real progress bar and it closes the update window, opens it back up and it back to where it started but it gives me the error "Code 800F0900 Windows update encountered an unknown error"

Were you doing the update wirelesslessly?
If so, I had the same problem recently. I resolved the problem by shutting the computer down, connected to a wired network connection and restarting.

 

[Doctor Micro]

I had the same problem on a PC last week. XP Home SP2. PC was infected with multiple viruses and trojans. Norton was installed but outdated, disabled and would not scan or update. Ran Combofix, MalwareBytes, VIPRE Rescue, plus manual file and directory cleanup. Multiple programs would not uninstall, either from the program file or Add/Remove. Error message was "Installer Service could not be accessed." Weird thing was that some programs uninstalled just fine. Finally got Norton uninstalled with SymNRT and manual cleanout. Installed VIPRE, updated online okay and ran a full deep scan. Found another batch of leftover malware and quarantined or removed all of them. PC seemed clean, but I started noticing funny stuff, like I couldn't make a restore point, some standard programs opened up and worked just fine, others wouldn't. I reinstalled System Restore, but it didn't help. Then I tried Windows Update. Didn't work. Tried going to Microsoft update through the back door. That didn't work either. Tried a manual install of a previously downloaded update. That took. Used Dial-A-Fix to fix permissions, checked for restrictive policies (none found), attempted to reinstal BITS and got errors. Cleared out the downloaded program cache and the MS update folder. Attempted to run SFC but the system wouldn't recognize or accept any XP disk. Ran system repair off the XP disk, but it didn't help. Finally gave up and nuked it, reinstalled XP from scratch and it worked like a charm after that.

 

[atlanticjim]

I had the same problem on a PC last week. ............................................ Ran system repair off the XP disk, but it didn't help. Finally gave up and nuked it, reinstalled XP from scratch and it worked like a charm after that.

I dont mean to hijack the thread, but I am curious.
If you had to do it over again would you have N/P earlier in the process?
Did you just charge for the reinstall or for the time spent?
How much did you charge?
How much actual time did you spend on this job? ("keyboard time" so to speak)

 

[Doctor Micro]

I dont mean to hijack the thread, but I am curious.
If you had to do it over again would you have N/P earlier in the process?
Did you just charge for the reinstall or for the time spent?
How much did you charge?
How much actual time did you spend on this job? ("keyboard time" so to speak)

Oh yes, much earlier. I probably ended up with 5-6 hrs keyboard time on this one. I usually don't go to such lengths, but I kinda got sucked into this one... you know, when you think, "Oh, I'm sure just this next thing will do it". Part of it was just stupid pride... "I'm not going to let this stupid machine beat me."

I just charged for the reinstall ($135), not for my dogged efforts and obstinate waste of time. I already had the latest drivers downloaded for this model, and I'd already made a backup of the customer's data and gotten the keycodes for XP and Office.

In the end, N/P was by far the better solution for this machine and I'm glad nothing I did previously seemed to work, as I'm sure the customer would have gotten back a machine with still-damaged registry and still-damaged OS files.