Windows Update just spins wheels.

Do you have Win2000 Service Pack 4 installed???

Microsoft discontinued support for anything earlier than Win2000 SP4 as of 30 June 2005.

Thanks Fishin, I'll check!

Eeyep, that was the July 1 download.

Hrmmm... Does it hang up if you select the Custom install for the updates too??

Testing out that idea.....

It's been about 4 minutes and the green line's still rolling.

Well, the last update I accepted took hours, maybe because I was badly out of date.

Hi Roger! How badly out of date? Which windows do you run?

Well, I'm off to bed.....

Thanks fishin!

xp home

It is possible that the site is just swamped with thousands of other people doing the same thing you are :-)

Has anyone brought up the possibility that Windows just blows dead rhinos?

I read on a website that the net is running slowly because of hacker wars. Now that could just be the usual news outlets getting giddy but apparently there are mobs of hackers belting various "places" in cyberspace with virus and what have you. That may be an explanation but as a non-tech type I can only repeat what I read.

Hmmmm... even at msn? Wow.

Or it could be that windows just blows dead rhinos.

Could be, Kicky, but this has never been an issue before. Windows has it's problems, I generally use mozilla, but I need to keep the windows updated because..... well.... because I'm s'posed to.

You might wanna try System File Check. With no other apps running, particularly any real-time monitoring/protecting apps, such as antivirus or antispyware, go to Start>Run, type (without the quotes) "sfc /scannnow" (note the space between "sfc and "/scannow", and note also the forward slash (/) and the 2 "n"s in "/scannow"), click "OK". A progress box should appear. During the process, you may be asked to insert your Win2K installation disk, so have one handy (a vendor's "Restore" disk won't work, but alternately, any W2K install disk will - and actually, all that's needed is the I386 file from the install disk, which can be copied from any Win2K install disk, even a "Restore" disk, placed in a folder on your machine, and targeted manually when you are prompted for your install disk). When the process has completed, reboot, connect to the internet, and see if Windows Update now works.

It is possible also your SP4 update did not install properly. You should be able to locate and uninstall it via Add/Remove Programs. Following the uninstall, reboot, connect to the internet, and, with no real-time monitoring/protecting apps running, go to Windows Update and see if you can reintall the Service Pack.

Also, see Microsoft: Software updates for some Windows components may not be applied when you install a service pack for Windows 2000, for Windows XP, or for Windows Server 2003

and

You cannot install some updates or programs


Both articles include links to further troubleshooting tips and possible resolutions for the problem you describe.

Edit to add an afterthought:
A couple more potentially hel;pful ideas:

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer v2.0 may assist you in tracking down and fixing the problem too, I'd certainly give it a shot before descending into despair.

And there's always manual updating: Microsoft: How to download Windows updates and drivers from the Windows Update Catalog - which frankly is my preference - I like to download-and-save a copy of the update or patch whenever possible, and install it on my own terms. While I recommend Automatic Updates for most users, I don't use it myself; I stay abreast of what has been released, and go get it myself - often before it would turn up via Automatic Updates.


And of course, if all else fails, there's always panic, anguish, despair, and reformatting/re-installing Windows

Thanks Timber, I'll go through that post later.

I spent several hours on the phone with a techie at microsoft. He eventually took control of my PC and cleaned it up. Then he found that the norton anti-virus and the sygate firewall were preventing the update. Which is weird because they are both the same as I've had for a year or so......

Glad you mentioned that, littlek - my bad for not thinking of and suggesting antivirus and/or firewall configuration - I should have gone there first, since misconfiguration there is a very common cause of update problems. Only excuse I've got - and its a lame one - is that you didn't mention either of them. Now I'm embarrassed.

Glad its resolved :cool: