will not download windows update.

jescab

My neighbor has a Dell Latitude notebook running Win2K SP 4 that will not download the Windows update.

Anyone know why?

mobri09

Dial -A- fix usually works..give it a shot.

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=30577&category=software

jescab

thanx but that program did not work

JDMurray

Does IE6 start?

Does Windows Update load and display the "Express" and "Custom" buttons?

After clicking a button, does it start scanning the computer?

Are any needed updates found?

Does it try to download updates?

Are any updates successfully downloaded?

Does it try to apply any updates that are successfully downloaded?

At any point is an error message displayed?

etc. etc. etc.

jescab

IE6 does start.

yes it displays the4 custom and express buttons - i tried both buttons

yes it finds needed updates

it flickers like it is going to download the updates the says unable to download the following updates.

no updates are successfully downloaded

no error messages other then it says the updates could not be downloaded

RussS

Sounds like maybe the MS Verification tool might be corrupt. Clear out what is in C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Program Files that is unknown to you and also the MS Verification even if it says it is not damaged and try again.

JDMurray

Using IE6, clear your web browser cache. Also, remove the temp files from %WINDOWS%\Temp and your C:\Documents and Settings\<User Account>\Local Settings\Temp folders. If you have a Windows cleaner tool use that.

mobri09

I'm surprised dial-a-fix did not work for you. This is a great program for clearing temp files and fixing various scripts and etc. We have been using it a best buy recently and it has been working great for fixing those windows update problems. Try it again for me and press the little green button at the button that selects everything to be fixed. Here is a better website to download Dial-A-FIX from. Good luck
http://djlizard.net/software/dial-a-fix/

jescab

ok I tried this again and hit the green button and that did not work.

I also cleaned out everything:
temp
temp internet files
recent
history
cookies

i did a scan disk and defrag

JDMurray

Forgive me for asking, but is this copy of Windows registered with a legitimate, non-pirated activation key? Microsoft has been tightening up their update and download services to exclude illegitimate copies of Windows.

I've never actually seen what will happen if Windows update is run on a pirated copy of Windows, so I was wondering.

spudnik

good questions JDMurray.. The below might help only if the answer is YES

We had a similar strange problem with some kit, none of it would download updates. The way around it was to download BITS2.0 from microsoft (you have to do this individually on each machine, as BITS2 has some hidden files to do with verification) after that windows update site worked again.

jescab

Yes this is a legitimate copy of Win2K. It also has the validation patch downloaded and installed.

spudnik

you could try and download the files individually, when windows update gives you a list of files, that need updating, take a note and try and download individually, maybe one of those files is the reason windows updates doesn't work.

jescab

I tried to download them individually but that did not work either.

When I downloaded them individually it looked like it downloaded fine but it didn't because when I re-boot and re-ran windows update the same file was still listed.

I think I will just re-format it with XP during the Thanksgiving break.

JDMurray

Yes, if you consider reformatting/reinstalling and option, then it seems like the thing to do in this case.

Still, I'd really like to know what the problem is. I bet there's a bad glitch or two in the registry.

jescab

I would love to know what the problem is also. That dial-a-fix program was suppose to check the registry and register dll's.

I will work on it until thanksgiving break then i will install Win XP Pro.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!!!

D-boy

Did you try doing a repair of internet explorer? Or restoring your internet explorer default setting? resetting web settings? Do you have Norton firewall installed? Are you sure this is not blocking it?

jacev1

I had a similar problem at work with a W2K workstation. I could browse the web and open the windows update page, but couldn't update the workstation. I had to run " wuauclt /detectnow " from the command line. This was after a clean install using image cds. We use WSUS at work, but I think it will also work with M$ windows update site if you connect to your ISP before running the command.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong ...

jescab

all IE settings were re-stored to teh defaults - no norton ffirewallinstalled