Rick,
First, the MS Critical Update notifier is a pain in the proverbial. I've
turned mine off, and check the website every so often (once a week at
work, once a month at home, unless there is a super-urgent update). Or
subscribe to their mailing list.
I'm sure MS are tinkering with their update sites behind the scenes - I
visited the updates site yesterday from a friends computer (running
Win98) and also had a failure installing some critical updates. This is
the first time it has ever failed for me that I can recall. I visited it
today at work (XP Pro - which takes you to
v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com not the normal site) and it ran like a
charm, installing 4 updates. It wasn't working on Monday - timed out
every time getting the catalogue. What was the nature of your errors?
They sound a bit more serious than my failure yesterday.
Second, Yes the Run is 'the right place'! It sounds like neither of the
CD's you have are the one that was used for the original installation,
would this be correct? When you run the SFC, and cached files need to be
reloaded, it attempts to retrieve these files from 'installation media',
according to MS. Perhaps the build of the installed XP is different to
those on the CD's you have (don't know how you'd check this).
I have also run SFC /SCANNOW from my Run line, and it runs (slowly) with
no problems, using the original installation media.
I've been using XP Pro at work now for several months, and while I
prefer Win2k, I have no hesitation in recommending XP Pro to others. I
give it a real hammering (I work on a support desk and am constantly
installing/uninstalling/purposely-crashing programs), and it has hardly
missed a beat. Win2k reliability with more bells and whistles than - ugh
- Win98ME.
Of course, hardware will play a significant part in robustness. It's
never a good idea to mix RAM when it can be avoided. Different
manufacturers / production runs will produce RAM sticks with different
characteristics, same as CPU's. My older home AMD K6/2 500 (now retired)
inherited three different sticks of pc133, and it was only stable with 2
of those installed. The third stick with either of the other two, or all
three, caused booting problems and BSOD's. Yet each worked OK on it's
own...
Gotta love computers!!
Rick P
-----Original Message-----
From: PCSOFT - Personal Computer software discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rick Glazier
Sent: Monday, 3 June 2002 1:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCSOFT] Can't Connect to Windows Update
I've been waiting for a message with this problem to start a thread.
This is kind of a "me too" or "I feel your pain" post...
I've had the same problem with Windows-XP-PRO for a week or two. First
it tells me a new update software is available, and then it tries to D/L
it, and that fails and declares itself incomplete. (Actually in
hindsight, this has happened before but always immediately corrected
itself like is actually WAS getting new stuff, so I never worried.) The
error message code is meaningless, the instructions on the same screen
do NOT help, and the two knowledge base articles, (one referenced on the
failure page and another dealing with this exact problem) are totally
useless in fixing this.
I only have one additional problem on this computer (that I am aware
of)...
When I type SFC /SCANNOW in the Run box, it tells me my (two) FACTORY MS
CD(s), the OEM, bought with (2) motherboard type is the incorrect CD. (I
bought two CDs with two keys.) The CD drive works in all other ways, and
Explorer sees the files on THAT CD. I get the same EXACT message with or
with-out the CD. (That seems odd in itself.) (Ummm, Question: Is the
RUN box the right place?)
Could this be a RAM problem? I had trouble finding compatible RAM for a
"nearly" matching system of my wife's with a different sized RAM module.
She has 512M, mine is 128+256.
I do not want a system that "cannot be fixed" and am considering a
re-install too...
This is only two months old and I am not "too attached" to this install
yet... I am obviously disappointed at the fragile nature of XP... (YMMV)
Rick Glazier
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Penlington" <[log in to unmask]>
>Microsoft appear to have changed the Windows Update site over the
>weekend. I couldn't connect this morning, then it connected but timed
>out. Only 5 minutes ago did it work successfully.
>You're willing to re-install and / or play with your registry settings
>because you can't connect to a website? That's a bit extreme, isn't
>it?!
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