Windows xp update failed

[avg1joe]

I just reinstalled XP sp3 on an old laptop. I installed IE8. Windows update isn't working. Is this the beginning of the end? I'm in the middle googling the problem and trying various things. Nothing's worked yet. There is a lot of bs advice around this.

 

[mikew]

I just did a rebuild last week. Going to Windows update froze the machine up. I rebooted and let it sit over night. The next day, auto updates were available for install.

 

[avg1joe]

Found a thing called windows update agent 7.6 and installed it and I'm now connected to windows update.

 

[avg1joe]

I was wrong. It didn't fix it. I'm attempting another clean install.

 

[avg1joe]

Clean install #2. Still no windows update.

 

[Frank Jr.]

Recently I had the same thing happen to me with my HP laptop that has XP SP3 on it. I started out with high processor loads which slowed the thing to a crawl. I decided to do a clean install thinking I had some kind of bug or virus. After the install I couldn't get it to update as well. I tried every fix I could find with Microsoft Support, but nothing worked. I decided to defrag the drive and low and behold the updates started to load. Still having the processor intermittently load up though. Updates took forever to complete. Still working on it......

 

[avg1joe]

Odd. This is an HP laptop.

 

[. Raine]

Our XP computers at my work updated Wednesday morning with no problems, four Dells.

 

[avg1joe]

Our XP computers at my work updated Wednesday morning with no problems, four Dells.

Those already have a certain number of updates installed though, correct? Usually a fresh install of xp, when you first run windows update, installs an updated version of update. I'm not getting that on this machine.

 

[Frank Jr.]

Just curious, did you format the hard drive as the first step before the OS installed? I found a bad file from the HP driver install CD on mine that was causing the high CPU loads. My laptop has a small Celeron processor that can't handle any huge resource hog. I use it for imaging purposes when out doing night sky photography. I connect my camera to the laptop so I can view images without having to down load the images from the memory card. That way I can adjust my camera settings on the fly.

I hesitate to say this, but if you didn't format the hard drive, you might consider, well, you know.......... Good luck with it!

 

[Magic Static]

No more XP updates on demand. Only XP SP3 gets updated and you get them when MS is ready to give them to you. Real PITA

 

[avg1joe]

I did a full format the first install. A quick format on the second install.

 

[mike123abc]

I have just 4 more XP computers to upgrade. 3 of them being replace by a whole new box. One I will probably just upgrade to Win8 since I have a few of the $49 upgrades left.

 

[. Raine]

Those already have a certain number of updates installed though, correct? Usually a fresh install of xp, when you first run windows update, installs an updated version of update. I'm not getting that on this machine.

Right, they were only doing current updates, not from fresh installs.

 

[Frank Jr.]

I have just 4 more XP computers to upgrade. 3 of them being replace by a whole new box. One I will probably just upgrade to Win8 since I have a few of the $49 upgrades left.

I wouldn't mind upgrading my laptop to W7 or 8 if it would be less of a resource hog for the old one.......

 

[avg1joe]

Is there anyplace to download xp with sp3 + updates slipstreamed in that is likely to be virus free?

 

[Frank Jr.]

Is there anyplace to download xp with sp3 + updates slipstreamed in that is likely to be virus free?

Best place I know is Microsoft. With that said, I have my own copy. [url]http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24[/URL]

 

[avg1joe]

What I mean is an xp home install disk which includes sp3, also includes an upgrade to ie8 and includes all of the security updates to date for ie8 and xp.

 

[avg1joe]

I wasted a lot of time on this. I googled and googled and tried everything anyone recommended with no luck at all. I like to do a fresh install, leave updates off and install them all at once from the windows update site.

I finally gave up. I turned windows update on and let it sit for a few hours. Automatic updates seem to work fine.