Windows Updates Hassles!!!

Hi!

PLEASE!.....can anyone here help me with this????

I am in the beginning stages of formatting my daughter's machine and reinstalling XP Pro. Generic machine that I originally had built for her over a year ago. Athlon XP 1600 CPU, MSI Mobo.

When I first set this machine up I don't remember any Windows Update hassles with it. For many months now, updating Windows has been as much fun as pulling your hair out, which I'm kind of doing this minute!

So now I have formatted and have reinstalled XP Pro. The first thing I do after loading all the hardware drivers for the unit is my Windows Updates. Why on Earth is this particular system unable to properly download or install the Updates????

I am now finished all the updates, Criticals, XPs, drivers, etc., to the point where it says no more are avialable which is completely bogus! I know this because the thing would sometimes download quickly, sometimes not......but worst of all were the installs. The bar graph would just crawl on a certain batch of updates and get part ways there and basically stall there forever. I would have to restart the PC and try again. Sometimes I got lucky and a few of many would show as yet uninstalled in the Windows Update scan. Sometimes I know for a fact that updates did not get installed because it hung up half way through install of a few and was restarted. This seems to cause the Update system to "think" something is installed when, in all actuality, it is not!

Why is this happening???? I need to be sure I have it all together before blasting the PC full of programs.

Is there any way, after me possibly being told the problem by one of you, that I can "trick" Windows into believing NO updates were installed???? Can that be done somehow and then update again??? Heck, I'll format it again and start new already but the same problem will happen until I get an answer as to why this happens.

I have just had the biscuit with this thing now. She needs the machine ASAP and dear old Dad doesn't want to give it back in the same sad shape he found it in. You must know the feeling of where I'm at.......why keep building the house when you know darn well that some of the nails in the floor didn't really bite in. Sooner or later, the thing will collapse.

I HATE this feeling. I need answers. If I can't get them here, then they can't be had anywhere. I love you all here.

I will be out at work for the day after about a half hour from posting this. I'll be back later for sure.

Thanx in advance!

Please help me while I still have some hair left. What should I do at this stage??? What would YOU do????

Randy

 

No Error Messages

Thanx for the quick reply, Steve!

I looked over the troubleshooting area but nothing is giving me an error message so I can dial in on the problem. There's a liitle bit of many of the issues going on, especially the hanging up during download but, worse yet by far, is the hanging up during install.

With no error messages ever appearing, what should I do? Do I start from scratch now (format again) or what should I do? How do I begin the updates all over again and why no error message?

Please excuse my possible ignorance in the matter. Panic and frustration have ensued here at the moment. Also, I am quite good at these things, but lack the prowess many of you possess.

Randy

 

Formatted

Okay....I formatted the system again, before I get too far in trouble.

Tonight, when I get home, I will reinstall XP and then we shall take it from there.

I just want to be sure that all the updates go in properly.......peace of mind for me.


Later, folks!

Randy

 

Hello Randy,

A good idea anyway is to do MS updates this way:

Get a list of the updates for your system and go to the MS download only site. Here download the updates to a folder and then update them, ideally ONE at a time so if you have trouble with any one, you can backtrack using XP's system restore.

http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp?corporate=true

Regards - Charles

 

From Bad To Worse!

Okay, I have spent all evening formatting and reloading XP, over and over, to the same end as per below:

NOW, I have these terrible monsters which won't allow me to do almost anything at all.

An error message just pops up on the screen after I try to install anything, (haven't even been to Windows Update yet).

Error says windows is now going to shut down. Something to do with NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM because Remote Procedure Call (RPC) terminated unexpectedly. This will happen a few times and then.....the following takes over:

If I let the PC restart itself a few times after the first error message, I get a "General Host Process for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to close" error upon Windows loading, which also shuts it down.

Okay.....anybody have the answer to all this???? What is happening??? Even as I type this, I can hear the other PC restarting itself, over and over, because of the General Host Process thing.

EDIT It's the first error listed that's causing all the restarts I was hearing. Just checked it out.

PLEASE???????

EDIT 2 Have just found RPC in services.msc and applied it NOT to restart the PC, ever. Just guessing that this might allow me time to work with the problem via updates, etc.????

What say you all????

 

I Found It???

Did I find the problem?

Is it what is being discussed in the RPC thread at the beginning of this page?

I kept on refreshing my thread page. Just now I had a look at the whole XP page.

So....am I right?

 

Under Control

I've got things under control as of this morning. It was the virus.

Geez! What's the chances of it striking right in the beginning of setting up a fresh Windows install with the LAN hooked up????? Just my luck, I guess.

Sure do wish someone would have posted something to me about opening my eyes and looking at the other thread, though. Oh, well,...all's well that ends well and things are well up here right now.

Thanx anyways, folks!

Sincerely,
Randy

(must continue loading pc now)

 

At the risk of having you do thing over yet again, I think you'll be happier in the long run to take the time to burn a slipstreamed CD with XP and SP1 already integratged on it. That will eliminate the need for lots of the updates and will help you out down the road.

For myself (and two XP-pro systems at home) I have also loaded BigFix and rely on it for updates rather than using the Microsoft update service. It finds the same updates and allows installs but makes managing them lots easier IMO.