endless loop while "checking for the lastest updates for your computer"

Question

after initial update to XP sp3, the windows update site goes into an endless loop while "checking for the lastest updates for your computer"

no error code is issued

Answer 1

Somebody just offer me one solution (which appears in Item 1), and with it, I tried the following:

1.  Download and install KB2879017.  That should trigger WinXP to find the MS server to search for updates.

2.  If KB898461 is not offered among the first set of updates that pops up, download manually and install it.

3.  If Internet Explorer 8 is not among the updates made available from the automatic downloads, download manually and install it.

4.  [To be installed after IE8] Download and install KB905474.

5.  [To be installed after KB905474] Download and install KB892130. [Beware:  This program will be made available in Windows Update after installation of KB2879017 and KB898461.  Do not install at that point.  It will fail.]

6.  Upon restart, if Windows Genuine Advantage Notification window pops up, press Install and wait for completion.  It could take as long as 10 minutes.

Answer 2

Suggestion 1:-

Clearing Temporary Internet files, cookies and history in Internet Explorer

Tools>Internet Options>General

You’ll see Delete Cookies, Delete files, Delete History

NB: "Delete all offline content", will delete all files needed to browse the websites offline.

Reboot and try Windows Update again.

Suggestion 2:-

1: Check that the Background Intelligent Transfer Service to is set to Automatic and verify the Status is Started.

Click Start, Choose Run, and in the Run box, type services.msc, Click OK

Locate the Background Intelligent Transfer Service service, and right-click to select it.

Select Properties, and in the Startup Type list, select Automatic. Verify the service Status is Started. Click OK.

2. Check that the Set Event Log service is set to Automatic and verify that the Status is Started

Click Start, Choose Run, and in the Run box, type services.msc, Click OK.

Locate the Event Log service, and right-click to select it.

Select Properties., and in the Startup type list, select Automatic. Verify the Service status is Started. Click OK.

3. Register qmgr.dll and qmgrprxy.dll

Click Start, Choose Run and in the Run box, type regsvr32 qmgr.dll, Click OK.

Click Start, Choose Run and in the Run box, type regsvr32 qmgrprxy.dll, Click OK.

Suggestion 3:-

It is possible that the contents of the SoftwareDistribution folder have become corrupted, so try renaming the SoftwareDistribution folder****Click Start, Choose Run.

In the Run box, type services.msc.

Click OK.

Right-click the Automatic Updates service.

Click Stop.

Stopping the service will take a moment.

Rename the "SoftwareDistribution" folder:

a. Click Start, click Run, type:     %systemroot%

Click OK.

b. Right-click the SoftwareDistribution folder, and then click Rename.

c. Type SoftwareDistribution.old, and then press ENTER to rename this folder.

Click Start. Choose Run.

In the Run box, type services.msc.

Click OK.

Right-click the Automatic Updates service.

Click Start.

Starting the service will take a moment.

Please note that your update history is contained in the "datastore" folder and when you rename the Software Distribution folder, the history is lost but it's not important. You can if need be, copy the contents back from the renamed softwareDistribution.old folder. Losing the history of Windows Updates is not important.

Suggestion 4:-

Certain files may have become unregistered, and you will need to register them again:-

Click Start, Choose Run and in the Run box, type regsvr32 wuaueng1.dll, Click OK.

Do the same for the other files:-

wucltui.dll

wuaueng.dll

wuapi.dll

jscript.dll

MSXML.DLL 

MSXML2.DLL 

MSXML3.DLL

Answer 3

I came across a solution to my problem, but it was none of the above.  I tried Microsoft Update in clean-boot mode, and that didn't solve the problem.  So, I  let the sequence for "Checking for the latest updates for your computer" run its course for the full hour, then up popped the request that I download and install Windows Genuine Advantage.

Once again, another hour-long wait, before nearly 150 updates were available.  I downloaded all that I needed for my machine and rebooted.  Once I rebooted, a window popped, prompting me to install Windows Genuine Advantage, and I installed it.  Upon the next check for updates, the message "Checking for the latest updates for your computer" lasted less than a minute and a new set of updates were made available.

I wonder if the hour-long wait for the first set of updates is the result of 2 things:  My upgrade of Win7 Pro from 32-bit to 64-bit on my first hard drive, and my migration of WinXP Pro (32-bit) on my second hard drive, from a SATA 2.0 setup to a SATA 3.0 setup.  I never had such a delay in my previous setup.

Answer 4

I have a similar problem, which started when, after replacing my motherboard, I reinstalled WinXP Pro to a SATA 3.0 hard drive (SATA 2.0 connection).  When I get to "Checking for the latest updates for your computer", the green line scrolls for an hour before new updates pop up on the screen.  I did not have this problem with my SATA 2.0 hard drive (SATA 2.0 connection).

Though the solution may be close to irrelevant now (because all XP updates will end in April 2014 and I am giving serious consideration to moving everything to my Win7 hard drive), I assume there is a solution for this, yes?  That is, if my test of Microsoft Update in a clean-boot state yields the same result...

...Then again, is it symptomatic of the fact that Microsoft will soon dismantle access to WinXP's Microsoft/Windows Update, and one or more aspects of the link have already been altered, resulting in an hour-long wait before available updates appear on the screen?