Thirith on 23/5/2009 at 22:21
Lately my Windows updates all fail. There are a handful of items in the queue, an update to Games for Windows Live, one for IE7 and one for PowerPoint. All I get is a message saying that they couldn't be installed. Same thing happens whether I use the auto update function or whether I go to Microsoft's update page.
I've tried a couple of things (e.g. deactivating my anti-virus programme) but nothing's worked so far. Any tips? I definitely would prefer not to have to re-install Windows.
bikerdude on 23/5/2009 at 23:21
Quote Posted by Thirith
Lately my Windows updates all fail. There are a handful of items in the queue, an update to Games for Windows Live, one for IE7 and one for PowerPoint. All I get is a message saying that they couldn't be installed. Same thing happens whether I use the auto update function or whether I go to Microsoft's update page.
Windows Update does this occasionally, one way to fix this is to do a system restore before this started happening. Ive had Xp, vista and windows 7 do the same thing, this is a dirty fix and there is probably a more correct fix for this.
Ladron De La Noche on 24/5/2009 at 12:22
Failed window updates are a sign of bad system memory. Run (
http://www.memtest.org/) Memtest86+, just to be sure.
This tool diagnosed several bad memory modules that I had, an invaluable tool. ;)
bikerdude on 24/5/2009 at 12:42
Quote Posted by Ladron De La Noche
Failed window updates are a sign of bad system memory. Run (
http://www.memtest.org/) Memtest86+, just to be sure.
Er, that one possiblity, but I have never heard of or experienced that one before. I have brand new memory that is 100% and I have WU fail on both vista and w7 and it was the OS not the hardware.
Thirith on 24/5/2009 at 13:00
Quote Posted by Bikerdude
Windows Update does this occasionally, one way to fix this is to do a system restore before this started happening. Ive had Xp, vista and windows 7 do the same thing, this is a dirty fix and there is probably a more correct fix for this.
Since the whole thing started after I came back from a three-week holiday, does this mean I'd have to revert back to a state before my holidays?
Ladron De La Noche on 24/5/2009 at 13:10
Biker, I see now. Spoke to soon. Although a windows update that fails to complete installation or several installation failures is a sign of bad memory. This one seems to be before the installation begins.
bikerdude on 24/5/2009 at 14:40
Quote Posted by Thirith
Since the whole thing started after I came back from a three-week holiday, does this mean I'd have to revert back to a state before my holidays?
yes, unfortunately - so do a backup of any important data(bookmarks, documents, stuff on desktop, user profile, etc) before you do it.
Thirith on 24/5/2009 at 15:38
Any way I can keep the programmes installed that I've put on the machine in the meantime? I have to admit, I've never really worked with system restores, so how can I minimise the annoyance?
bikerdude on 24/5/2009 at 17:49
Quote Posted by Thirith
Any way I can keep the programmes installed that I've put on the machine in the meantime? I have to admit, I've never really worked with system restores, so how can I minimise the annoyance?
here is a guide to system restore and how it works..
(
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial56.html)
Thirith on 28/5/2009 at 09:56
Thanks a lot, bikerdude. In the meantime I tried the system restore to a point roughly a month in the past, with the result that even earlier updates no longer worked. At this point I've reverted to the pre-restore state and will probably continue like this. Going back further and further and further strikes me as immensely frustrating - if there are problems down the line, it might be more sensible just to do a reinstall sooner or later.
