WinXP problem for the Pelican brain trust

[BGCarrera32]

Hi:

Here's the deal...*every* time I shut down my PC running WinXP SP2 it tells me it is installing update 1 of 6, etc. as if it is installing a recently downloaded Windows update. When I try to download supposedly needed updates online, they all fail to install. I have a system conflict somewhere that is preventing Windows from straightening itself out. I run Kaspersky Anti-virus and and am getting the conflict with the anti-virus software turned off, and it is not detecting any viruses either. Something is going on and its sucking me dry on hard drive space- I have a 40GB disk (6 year old PC), probably 10 GB of apps and I have no idea what's sucking the rest up. Or how to begin sorting it out.

I use apps to get my work done and waste time on PPOT, but I'm not a PC guy. Where to begin? Any help appreciated...

Thanks.

[slodave]

Start here:

Goto -> Start -> Run. Paste this "regsvr32 msxml3.dll" (leave out the quotes), hit OK. It should come up and say something like:

Registration of msxml3.dll succeeded.

Reboot and try again. If this does not help, we'll try something else.

Dave

[Joeaksa]

Have you tried starting it in safe mode yet and going from there?

Hit "control, alt delete" and tell us what all is running? Sounds like you have a lot of crap running in the background that is not needed.

[slodave]

Joe, either the directory where the updates are downloaded has become corrupt or a few system files need to be reregistered. This is a common MS issue, just dealt with it on another computer.

[slodave]

Better yet,

Start -> Run -> paste this: net stop wuauserv -> OK

Then Goto -> Start -> Run. Paste this "regsvr32 msxml3.dll" (leave out the quotes), hit OK.

Then Start -> Run -> paste this: net start wuauserv -> OK

[BGCarrera32]

Thanks slodave...that seemed to fix the shutdown issue, but...

On my toolbar at the bottom right of the screen is the little yellow "shield icon" for windows update. When I run that it finds 10 updates I need and must be downloading the files to try and install them, yet it grinds on each update for a minute and says that the update "fails"...and I noticed I just lost another 250 MB of disk space.

I took a screen shot but I can't even post that as I lost "paint" now somehow...

Yikes...help...

[Scott R]

had this issue earlier this year, just like Dave said ts missing or corrupt patches, sadly my desktop guys had to reload my laptop in the end.

[slodave]

Hang on, on the phone.

[Mule]

Download Ccleaner. Run registry fix & cleaner. Problem solved.

[BGCarrera32]

I willing to bet I have GIGABYTES of updates just sitting in a directory somewhere that can seem to be installed. Where do I find those and blast them to he-- ?

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Mule

Download Ccleaner. Run registry fix & cleaner. Problem solved.

Sorry Mule, not this time. That's just a big waste of time.

[slodave]

At the screen where it lists the failed updates, is there an error #? What is it?

In the mean time, try this...
Again, Start -> Run for each of these.
net stop wuauserv
Regsvr32 Jscript.dll
regsvr32 Msxml.dll
regsvr32 Msxml2.dll
Regsvr32 Msxml3.dll
Regsvr32 Atl.dll
Regsvr32 Wuapi.dll
Regsvr32 Wuaueng.dll
Regsvr32 Wuaueng1.dll
Regsvr32 Wucltui.dll
Regsvr32 Wups.dll
Regsvr32 Wuweb.dll
net start wuauserv

If any error, it's OK.

Get me the error code and I'll know exactly where to go.

Dave

[Joeaksa]

Dave,

What about getting him to turn off those damm automatic updates? Just enable the "notify" part and stop there?

Joe

[BGCarrera32]

Ran each one of those entries seperately, no error codes.

Ran cccleaner registry fix, supposedly found 500 some errors and cleaned them up.

Can turn off now without being prompted for updates.

I go to windows update online at this addy:
http://www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

Then it sits here and pretends its Knight Rider like forever scanning my system checking for the latest updates.

?

I still think I have GIGS of update files somewhere. Down to 537 MB free HD space.

[BGCarrera32]

Running the automatic updates, it says this:

"Initializing installation... done!
Installing Update for Outlook 2003 (KB943469) (update 1 of 10)...failed!
Installing Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP#) (update 2 of 10).... failed!

And this keeps on going...

[Eric Coffey]

Dave-

Windows installer issue?

msiexec /unregister + msiexec /regserver applicable here?

[slodave]

Try this:
2. Stop the Automatic Updates service and the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS). To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
b. In the list of services, right-click Automatic Updates, and then click Properties.
c. In the Automatic Updates Properties dialog box, click the General tab, click Stop, and then click OK.
d. In the list of services, right-click Background Intelligent Transfer Service, and then click Properties.
e. In the Background Intelligent Transfer Service Properties dialog box, click the General tab, click Stop, and then click OK.
3. Rename the SoftwareDistribution folder. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type %windir%, and then click OK.

Note The %windir% folder is the folder where you installed Microsoft Windows.
b. Locate the SoftwareDistribution folder.
c. Right-click the SoftwareDistribution folder, and then click Rename.
d. Type OldSD, and then press ENTER.
4. Start the Automatic Updates service and the BITS service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
b. In the list of services, right-click Automatic Updates, and then click Properties.
c. In the Automatic Updates Properties dialog box, click the General tab, click Start, and then click OK.
d. In the list of services, right-click Background Intelligent Transfer Service, and then click Properties.
e. In the Background Intelligent Transfer Service Properties dialog box, click the General tab, click Start, and then click OK.

Seeing the WindowsUpdate.log file would be helpful as well, but it is usually long. It can be found under:
C:\Windows as well. If anything, open it and look at the end and see if there are any error codes. They would look similar to this: Error number: 0x8DDD0004

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Eric Coffey

Dave-

Windows installer issue?

msiexec /unregister + msiexec /regserver applicable here?

I don't think it's the installer, but we'll get to it. I really need to make better notes on some of these issues. I figured I'd cut to the chase on this one and fix it first try. Guess not.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Dave,

What about getting him to turn off those damm automatic updates? Just enable the "notify" part and stop there?

Joe

Joe, he'll still need to do updates at some point and the manual update will be broken as well.

[slodave]

Gone rollerblading. I'll be back in about an hour.