take into account that the first time you run the update it will take quite a while to check the whole need for updates, doubly so if it is a slower computer. Let it run for a long time before stopping it.
We have a whole office full of WinXP SP3 PCs here and they all update just fine. Unfortunately we are stuck with XP for the time being as we have software that is required by everyone that won’t run on anything beyond XP…
Had the exact same issue with a fresh install of XP and tried everything to resolve it mentioned above. Was able to get Windows Update working by the using the fix in this thread.
Still updating my computer now. I only installed the IE6 cumulative security update to fix it, but I am assuming that when i upgrade to IE8, Windows Update will break again until I install the IE8 Cumulative update.
I wasn’t in a hurry last month, so as per some online threads, I left my new XP SP3 VM running with updates in “Install updates automatically” mode. I didn’t pay much attention to it, just rebooting it anytime it looked like it managed to get an update, and it finally started working as expected 2 days later.
So if you don’t need answer fast, I’d say just do that.
Yeah, the windows update “check what’s on the MS Servers against what’s installed, build a list” is going to take a very long time (LONG list) with a fresh install. You can skip a few iterations if you can find and download SP3.
A few years ago I had to install a fresh Win2000 server. The internet no longer worked, because almost nothing supported IE5, even MS Windows Updates site. Fortunately, for some bizarre reason, I had an IE6 install disk. Once I did that, I could download the fixes required including the Windows update software. (Can’t now I think…)
Unfortunately it isn’t just a problem of it taking a long time, no matter how long I left update running, it would just fail with an error message saying it couldn’t connect to the update service.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=24
I googled “download XP SP3”
I think you can download the newest Service pack here, and then run it. It should incorporate a lot of the updates up to that point.
What happens if you try that?
Oops. I see you tried that.
Must be a new glitch. I’ve installed fresh (virtual) XP within a year ago and they update just fine,
Plenty of existing XP all work fine, I’ve never had an update issue.
The factory install on mine is already on SP3 so it couldn’t have been that. I think the explanation in the link Binkley provided sounds as if it could be right.
Wonder if the OP has got his fixed yet.
I think that was it! When I downloaded SP3 (I actually have an SP2 disk) I was given the “you may also want” dialogue and ended up with IE8. Following Binkley’s link, as soon as I manually updated IE8, Windows Update began working. It’s hanging up on upgrading .NET, but I think I’m getting around that by manually updating it to v.4.
The only other thing I can’t get past is the bad battery notice. I found a lot of threads talking about how it’s a known Inspiron 1501 problem, but I’ve flashed the BIOS to the latest version and it’s still giving me the warning. That’s a separate issue, though (mentioning it here in case it sparks anyone’s memory) and will re-post if necessary.
Thanks!!!
.NET updates always take a long time, much longer than other updates.
Also note that later versions of .NET framework do not replace or remove the previous .NET frameworks but install and run side by side.
Thanks. I shouldn’t have said ‘hanging’, as that implies it’s dragging along. Rather, the updates are all failing. I’ve tried a handful of things, the most nuclear (can you have a ‘most nuclear’?) was using a 3rd-party cleanup utility to uninstall all of the .NET frameworks, then manually installing them and their service packs. I may have missed a step somewhere, because updates pretend to run, then I get a failure notice. Funny thing is, even when I run a non-.NET update I get a failure notice, so maybe I’m barking up a wrong .NET with my attempts at solving it.
You know, you’d think I would have had all this XP nonsense down by now.
It took me a while to cut this one down. I created a blog post on my website with detailed instructions and links to the updates you’ll need to download. It’ll take you about 10 minutes and you should have Windows Updates working again.
http://www.geekallday.com/windows-xp-sp3-update-issues/
I’ll also list the updates here that are required.
•Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
•Internet Explorer 8
•Update for Windows XP (KB927891)
•Windows Update Agent 3.0
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb932139.aspx
•Security Update for Windows XP (KB2510531)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10367
•Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP (KB2797052)
•Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP (KB2799329)
•Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP (KB2898785)
Wow, great list, thanks!
It’s been pretty stable and non-networked (also worried about Cylon attack) so far. Still has that bad battery issue (and not fixed by flashing to the latest version).
Now I need to find a good supply of cheap, educational (or fun) XP games…
I understand very little of this thread but I get the impression that on certain computers that run XP there is no option to install a dif Windows operating system.
My main home computer is an HP Mini netbook that I’d love to keep going as long as I can. I’ve heard that Windows XP won’t update but don’t really know how that will affect me. My latest “problem” is not being able to run Chrome so that I can utilize my Chromecast.
What options do I have if any?
I’m running XP on this laptop because it matches the requirements of the software I have (lots of hand-me-down kid’s games and the like).
I’ve heard of, but never encountered (or heard specifics), hardware that looks for a particular OS before it will continue booting.
You’re definitely going to get a lot of Linux! Linux! Linux! replies, and they’re right. It’s mature, runs a lot of everyday software, can be very easy (and intuitively familiar) to use, and can have a very small footprint.
I love using Ubuntu. You can put it on a ‘live’ CD or USB stick to double check that your computer will run it without a hitch. You can then explore built-in software and search the net for what’s missing.
As for Chromecast, here’s this from support.google: “The Google Cast extension is available on all platforms, including Chrome OS, Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.”
Google says it’s supporing Chrome on XP until April 2015. Are you sure you have updated to SP3? Also check if you have the right version of .Net.
The main cause of that would be a problem with the windows installer.
You might find the windows installer update and do that one manually.
I have had this with an old (very old) NEC laptop.
Refused to update IE to 8 from 6. Would install no updates - it had never been updated beyond service pack 1.
I would have put Linux on it but the CD-ROM wouldn’t work, nor the floppy drive, and it was too old to boot from USB although I did install PLOP to try that, failed miserably.
Gave it back, more trouble than it was worth.
I have here a Toshiba rescued from the skip. Decent model, crap spec.
This also has Windows XP SP1 IE6.
It has taken around 50 hours up to now but by general buggering around - I couldn’t posssibly recall all the attempts that were made, it has, bit buy bit, managed to install SP3, IE8, MSE and is in the process of finalising the updates.
This one won’t boot from USB - it is a 2004 model and the last time it was used was 2006.
The sound has failed and it wasn’t reading the CD-ROM either or it would have had Linux on it ages ago (been lurking here for six months, just left it plugged in and running for a month to see if it would ‘fix’ itself but it did nothing at all.
The CD-ROM is now working, there was a game in the drive that had clearly failed to load so the owner had abandoned it and forgotten the CD.
It is kind of a shame that XP is now running 'cause it’s going to be wiped and Ubuntued.
That said, it might be worthwhile to keep tinkering with it in the hope that it will eventually be up to date.
Step one of updating any old XP system is to put SP3 on it. (Maybe step 2, according to jmfridey. See that post for direct download links.)
To install Debian Linux from Windows directly, I have (very recently) used Debian-Installer Loader. Runs from Windows 95 up. Does a net install so you need a fastish connection.
There are some “gotchas” in the install. I would recommend first setting up the Linux partitions using any of the usual free/free to try partition programs. It also needs to know the archive site like ftp.us.debian.org to download from. It may also mess up booting from the old Windows partition so you need to know how to do Grub stuff if you want to fix that. (I actually set it up so the Windows boot loader gives me the boot option page. No Grub!)
Don’t know if Ubuntu has something similar.