Windows update ... waiting and waiting

Whenever I try to go to Windows Updates (by any route or link) I end up with a blank screen with message at the bottom:
Waiting for http://update.microsoft.com/widowsupdate/v6/thanks.aspx?ln=en-us&&thankspage=5
Nothing else happens no matter how long I wait.
I've tried accessing it from IE7, Mozilla, start menu all witout success.
I've checked IE security settings and tried the advice on previous threads from other members.
Any advice welcome.

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,

That link just redirects you here:
http://www.microsoft.com/err/uk/athome/security/update/

Also try:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/render.aspx?displaylang=en&content=updateservices

Matt

 

Many thanks Matt.
I went to the sites you suggested and tried the hyperlinks from them. The Widows Update link took me back to the original wait forever screen. Interestingly, when I tried the MS update link from the second site it took me to a different waiting window ... but nothing else happened. It seems as if I reach the MS update sites but they just don't respond fully.
I'm wondering if I should resort to a clean reinstall of XP .. but will try almost anything else first!
Thanks again
Mike

 

If I have problems opening web pages, I look at updating things that run script. First is Java, others are things like Macromedia flashplayer (now Adobe I think).

Those pages probably only contain Java script at most, so look at updating Java.
www.java.com
(maybe you have already done so).

Matt

 

Thanks Matt
I couldn't access java from your hyperlink, I got the can not display page screen.
I went to Java.com from Mozilla and got the latest update. It didn't fix the problem. I retried your hyperlink and got the same non-result. I then tried to access java.com from IE7 and got the same non-result (and a notice saying HTTP 500 Internal Server Error) .... but I can access it OK from Mozilla.
On reflection I think maybe the problem arrived not long after I updated to IE7 from IE6. I have tried to discard IE7 and go back to IE6 to see if that would help ... but that seems an impossible mission.
Strangely, the Windows automatic updates are still arriving!
Perhaps I have an IE7 problem rather than an XP issue?

Regards
Mike

 

Try registering the following dlls using the commands below from Start > Run

regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 vbscript.dll

If that does not solve the problem, reinstall Windows Scripting and see if
that helps
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...43-7e4b-4622-86eb-95a22b832caa&DisplayLang=en

Check if C:\WINDOWS\system32\msxml3.dll is present. If not, copy from
C:\WINDOWS\system32\DllCache and then register the file.

 

Mike, I am not an internet person. I thought about security settings, but see you have checked those (are there settings that were made in IE6 that may have an influence in IE7).

As far as IE7 goes, I would download and try reinstalling it again.

Script, Dave seems to think there might be some possibilities

Matt

 

Thanks Matt and Dave.
All the dlls you mentioned are present.
The message I get now when I try to go to Windows Update from the start menu is
"The requested lookup key was not found in any active activation context"

Ummm?

 

Everything I have read on that error says that Uninstalling IE7, reboot, re-install, reboot, is the fix.

Click Start>Run and enter the following command.

%windir%\ie7\spuninst\spuninst.exe

 

Thanks Dave
I did that and it's come full circle to the original "Waiting for ...."
What I did notice is that after deleting IE7 that way, there were still some IE7 folders in C drive that I just couldn't remove, I delete them and they come right back! Also couldn't reinstall IE6 because it said I had a later version installed! I've "deleted" and reinstalled IE7 twice .. everything seems to work fine except for the inability to connect properly to Windows Update and the inability to totally clear IE7. I guess in the great scheme of things, it's not a major worry, but it would be so good to put it right!
Regards
Mike

 

Just checking since you stated only that the files I previously mentioned are present, did you run the commands to register them? You should have received a message that they were successfully registered.

Did you re-install Windows Scripting?

A bit confused here ....... after running the command to uninstall IE7, the system should have automatically rolled back to IE6 upon reboot. Did it not? If not, try uninstalling via Add/Remove programs, then reboot. You may need to check the box to show updates in the Add/Remove applet to see it listed.

 

Hi Dave
Yes I ran the commands regsvr32 jscript and vbscript dlls and got the succeed message.
I did reinstall Windows Scripting anyway to be sure.
I looked for and found the ...\msxml.3dll in WINDOWS\system32 in C drive by using "search" in explorer so didn't need to copy.
I removed IE7 today using the Add/Remove applet and yes, it did revert to IE6 and everything looked OK, all my Favourites are still there ... but when I try to go to Windows update I get the "The requested lookup key was not found ...." message AND although IE6 looks OK it won't connect to the internet. My e-mail works OK. Firefox works OK. I phoned my ISP (because I thought I might need to re-enter the ISP data) and we went through the IE6 tools, internet connection, LAN settings and it seems that it is impossible to untick the "Use a proxy server for your LAN. I can untick it but the tick comes back! The ISP adviser has never come across this before and he thinks this is the root of the problem but doesn't know how to fix it. I don't know if this is the source of the problem?

 

Are we looking in the right direction?

The link in your first post has sent me to a page saying this:

This is even though I am using Vista with IE7.

After clicking on links there, after very slow loading I get to a page that says this:

After waiting several minutes, it actually opened the Windows Update applet in my system's Control Panel.

I get the feeling that there is no (longer?) "Windows Update" website. They want you to use automatic updates.

The closest I can get to a "Windows Update" webpage is the downloads links I put in my first reply.

If getting to a Windows Update webpage is your goal, try going there on another Win XP machine, it doesn't appear possible to me (apologies if it because I am using Vista).

Matt

 

Very odd that you cannot uncheck the proxy. Is there an IP address there? Port numbers?

 

Thanks Matt and Dave
The IP address is 127.0.0.1 and the port is 7212. When I delete them they have reappeared next time I go back to LAN.
Regards
Mike

 

Oops, sorry Mike, I got very similar results to you using Vista. I have finally gotten my Win XP connected to the internet and it is accessing the Windows Update website fine.

Matt

 

Did you by chance at any time install GhostSurf?

 

Hi Dave
Yes, years ago. It's still on my system. Should I ditch it?
Regards
Mike

 

Whether or not you remove it is up to you, but that is likely what is hooking the proxy setting. It may also be what has caused IE6 to not work properly. For that matter, it might be conflicting with IE7 as well, in need of an update to work properly with IE7 maybe.

http://www.tenebril.com/kb/showitem.php?faq_id=34

 

Success! I uninstalled GhostSurf reloaded IE7 and everything works including access to Windows Update. Many thanks Noahdfear and Mattman.