[RonS2]

Started to write to you about 10:30 this morning.when my computer was playing up and not recognising web addresses in icons on my desktop. AND when I decided to shut down and restart with a F8 button, it told me it was updating 2 of 7 !. 30 minutes later it said it was doing 3 of 7 and I decided to let it carry on (all be it very slowly). Since then I've had two failed attempts to transfer my messages from 'Fast Reply' to the thread.
It is now 12:15 - I am still on my wife's laptop - and have just visited the other machine and it says "updating 7 of 7"

Can't decide whether I'm pleased or not - it's horrendously slow but it may show us the way we need to go. I'll look at the update history as soon as I can and let you know. Don't think the history shows time of day though , just the date.

Hope this reaches the thread.

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Am on laptop again - desktop not accessible for a couple of hours.
Desktop finished its 'updating' and switched itself off before 12:30. I looked at the Update History. All 7 updates had a red button. errors are as follows. :-
kb 979909 , 982168, 2418241, 983583, 982524 ALL have error 0x645
kb951847 has error 0x800 7064C
kb2416472 has error 0x66A

Entering 0x645 into Google gets "Download Error Code 0x645 FIX" belongs to 'soft tip blog'

I have looked at (but not yet run) your advised kb943144. I'm on 32 NOT 64 and therefore x86 is appropriate. I'm looking forward to running it.

Many thanks for your support and help - I've learned a lot in the last few days.

[RonS2]

Am on laptop again - desktop not accessible for a couple of hours.
Desktop finished its 'updating' and switched itself off before 12:30. I looked at the Update History. All 7 updates had a red button. errors are as follows. :-
kb 979909 , 982168, 2418241, 983583, 982524 ALL have error 0x645
kb951847 has error 0x800 7064C
kb2416472 has error 0x66A

Entering 0x645 into Google gets "Download Error Code 0x645 FIX" belongs to 'soft tip blog'

I have looked at (but not yet run) your advised kb943144. I'm on 32 NOT 64 and therefore x86 is appropriate. I'm looking forward to running it.

Many thanks for your support and help - I've learned a lot in the last few days.

[RonS2]

Attempted to install Windows Update Agent and was told that it already existed and did not need to install. As it didn't give me an option to overwrite I accepted the existing version and carried on.
Clicked "Fixit for me " button and it finished rather rapidly. Hope I chose the right options I opted for x86 .

Went to "Turn Off" and allowed updates to be done.

Immediately started on Update 1 of 7. And it went on and on as before. After about 20minutes it had reached updating 2 of 7 and I zapped the computer with the on/off button so that I could check the result of the first update.
On restarting and looking at Windows Update History I can see that the latest attempt was a red button job - kb979909 and the error was 0x645.

Should I have done a restart before attempting the updates ?

The kb943144 certainly seems to have our problems identified.

The blurb identifies wups.dll and wups2.dll as problem files , My machine has both of these sitting in c:/windows/system32, and I've just spotted that both of them have an identical date&time. - BUT it's August 2009 and therefore they cannot have been input at the time of my last repair. Would it have been correct for my repairer to have them in the system like that and not recreated with a new SP3 addition or something ?

I am about to get rid of the BTBroadband programs that you dislike. What do I do - presumably I can't delete it from Control Panel 'cos it will take out the hub ??

[Macboatmaster]

After about 20minutes it had reached updating 2 of 7 and I zapped the computer with the on/off button so that I could check the result of the first update.

You cannot do that as frequently updates require you to wait for the installation to complete and it will then say "DO NOT TURN YOUR COMPUTER OF IT WILL RESTART automatically.
It then closes down itself after saying "configuring updates stage 1 of 2. then on 2 of 2 closes down restarts and then reports configuring updates stage 3 of 3.
All you have done is to add to the problem., as the update cache has now grown larger.
Those Net Framework updates are ones that require the procedure I have outlined above. Depending on the speed of your connection it can take 25 minutes or so just for the three net framework ones.

Please leave the BT for the time being. - this is in view of your last. It is best to deal with that first.

Every time you force a shut down whilst the HDD is being written to you create errors and RISK serious problems.

Please wait a short while and I will post what to do.

[Macboatmaster]

Sorry about the delay but in view of your errors in attempting to post on here I have decided that it is best to start again at possible solutions.

1. Start, Open My Computer, right click the hard drive, click properties, click tools tab, click error checking, click check now and click to check both boxes -automatically fix file system errors and scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
Click start and agree to run on restart pls.
It is a five stage check.
It will take sometime pls do not interrupt it.

When the computer reboots, please go Control Panel Administrative functions, event viewer and on the left pane click application. On the main window scroll to the first winlogon entry from the top.
Open that pls and apart from minor inconsistencies are there any file errors AND any bad sectors.

Pls post back when you have completed this.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 23 February 2011 - 03:04 PM.

[RonS2]

CHKDSK completed.

No file errors , No bad sectors.

[Macboatmaster]

Pls now go start, run and type "sfc /scannow"
You may have to insert the CD. It will not produce a report of the result unless it has files that need repair that it cannot find.
This is system file checker.

[RonS2]

Scannow ran OK. Took 35 minutes. Don't know whether that is par for the course. I had put the Windows CD in the drive and heard it start up many times after the progress bar got to about 30%.

It is now 20 mins since the scannow finished and vanished from the screen but nothing has appeared on the desktop screen as 'results'.

The machine is very very slow in responding to clicks on icons this morning and sometimes comes up with messages to say that it can't find them. Once it does find the site though it seems to be at normal speed.

I see that cidaemon is occupying taskmanager almost permanently. As this is an indexing thing - should I do a reindexing of the hard drive as I would after a defragmenting ?

[Macboatmaster]

Re Scannow

It will not produce a report of the result unless it has files that need repair that it cannot find

Pls confirm in more detail what you mean. - slow at responding to ICONS but once it does find the site. -Desktop icons?

The machine is very very slow in responding to clicks on icons this morning and sometimes comes up with messages to say that it can't find them. Once it does find the site though it seems to be at normal speed.

Indexing of the file system is carried out by windows so that, searches are quicker, however, we are I am afraid back to the issue of available memory.
You can turn indexing off and it will have no adverse effects.
I would however caution you against changing any other services. There are numerous sites that offer advice on which services can be changed from automatic to manual, or to disabled. Unfortunately, many services have dependencies and are themselves dependant on others. Generally speaking they are best left alone.
YOU CAN however stop the indexing service with no noticeable adverse results.
Go Start, run and type "services.msc" when the window opens scroll down to the Indexing service. Double click that entry. The start up type will more than likely be automatic. FIRSTLY STOP the service. Then change the startup type to DISABLED. Click Apply and OK as necessary.


When you have done that please do this. ONLY proceed as far as Step 3. DO NOT carry out Step 4.
http://support.micro....com/kb/310353/

That will start Windows in clean boot state. Please see how it is then. From a performance aspect..

Edited by Macboatmaster, 24 February 2011 - 07:33 AM.

[RonS2]

Sorry for delay - was at lunch.
Replying to initial query. When I booted up this morning it was slower than usual getting to a state where desktop was showing with all its icons and computer had stopped chugging.
I wanted to see if you had replied to my last nights posting so I clicked on a desktop icon I had created which was linked to our conversation on geekstogo. (I've been using the same method for some days now). The computer chugged away slowly for about 5 minutes before it came up with a message to the effect that it could not find the site - was I sure that I had typed it correctly ?. I decided to click on my Google icon and access geekstogo that way - Again chugg chugg and slightly more than 5 minutes later up on to the screen crawled the opening Google. When I entered to website address Google accepted it and produced geekstogo fairly rapidly. From that point on Google behaved as normal.

It seemed to me that the machine has great trouble 'finding' a site but once it has found the site it can recall it quickly. I therefore thought it possible that it has got its index in a tangle somehow and yhis was encouraged by the presence of cidaemon in Task manager. I have no desire personally to index or unindex. or indeed to fiddle with any of the other services.

Do you still wish me to stop the indexing and run kb310353 ??

P.S Have you remembered that I wondered about JAVA not being present on Control Panel & when I tried to Update from www.java.com it refused (I think it said Windows Installer had a problem)
Also when I was trying to update BT early on it couldn't proceed because of a "Automation server can't detect object" message.

Edited by RonS2, 24 February 2011 - 08:35 AM.

[Macboatmaster]

Do you still wish me to stop the indexing and run kb310353 ??

YES PLEASE.

I have no desire personally to index or unindex.

I have explained what the indexing is. It is indeed a resource user and many people do turn it off.


What you have posted on your last post - 25 makes no difference to the situation.
I have indeed remembered JAVA , if it is not installed it will not be in the Control Panel..

This is very much a question of taking one thing at a time. The fact that some updates go throughas per your post 12 suggests it is NOT a question of the Windows Installer. YOU MUST STOP forcing shut downs whilst it still states it is installing. If the HDD light is flickering it is doing something and forcing shutdowns will serve no useful purpose.

See how it is in clean boot.
and post the results please.

I am offline tonight.
I know I said in Post 19 to leave the BT matter but that was while I establsihed if there were any disc errors or system file errors.
If it is no better I seriously recommend you uninstall ALL of that BT software using Control Panel Add/Remove Programs. You will just have to trust me that your computer will still connect to the internet, you will still be able to access BT Yahoo. com,for your mail, but you will get rid of all that software from BT thta is using valuable system resources.

Use Google for example as your home page that is Google.co.uk. It has far less clutter than BT Yahoo.

After uninstalling all of BT installation. You simply sign on with Google. Then go to BT Yahoo.com and when you are on the mail page, you simply click on Favourites on the menu bar and then click add to favourites bar.

I cannot do more than say, it is your computer, you must do as you wish, but please be assured that you neither need, nor indeed can you afford to run all that software from BT.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 24 February 2011 - 11:57 AM.

[RonS2]

Indexing was stopped without any problems.
kb310353 offered 2 methods - (1) Guided Help , (2) Manually starting XP with a clean boot.
Decided to try (1) but got "Sorry Guided Help not available , Try again later.
Waited 15 mins same result. Decided to use method (2)
msconfig went well until final OK when it said "Access Error you need to be an Administrator"
My logon of OWNER has an administrator status.
Decided to try to getin to user as ADMINISTRATOR, - Succeeded by using two CTRL+ALT+DELs and expected that the password would be blank (because my local computer wizard had reinstalled my Dell re-installation disk), but blank didn't work and neither did the p/word that I had written down in a book from the time when I bought the computer in 2005. So I was absolutely stuck.

clicked OK on refusal message and exited msconfig. Decided to shut down the machine and think about it, but inadvertently hit the wrong shutdown button and the computer came up with "Updating 1 of 7" etc. Had to let it run of course. commenced at 20:20 , by 22:25 had got to "5 of 7", when I looked again at 22:25 it had switched off the machine. I booted up again and looked Update history to see that there were 7 red buttons displayed with date of 24/02/2011 and to my surprise 7 earlier red buttons dated 24/02/2011. I didn't remember any deliberate updating action on my part, so it must have been an automatic attempt by the machine.

This morning was very bad, boot-up was quite rapid but selecting the Google icon created a 4 minute wait before the message which says "are you sure you typed the right address". Tried again - same result . used task manager to see what was running - no programs , process = "wuauclt" never heard of it but took a chance and zapped it. was then able to access Google with only about 30 secs wait. That may be just coincidence of course.and I apologise in advance .

Google now appears to be working smoothly, Control Panel took me rapidly to menu but took ages to screen Add&Remove, It too seems OK now.

Now here's a thing. I went into update history this morning to see what the error codes were for yesterdays red buttons. And surprise surprise there's now ANOTHER set of 7 redbuttons with a date of 25/02/2011 and the machine has been switched off all night from before midnight to about 09:30 this morning. It's understandable that the system will be desperate to update these 7 bits but difficult to believe that it could secretly try and take about 150 minutes to try without me noticing it. Also - why is it only these 7 surely by now we need other updates from MS.?

Examining the redbutton info and taking the last three updates 7 at a time, we get the following error messages in chronological order

0x645(5) 0x8007064C(1) 0x66A 0x645(5) 0x8007064C(1) 0x66A(1) 0x8007068E(1) 0x800706BA(6)

I looked at msconfig this morning (was surprised to see that it was still held in the box ready to run) and can see that despite my ADMIN rights not being upheld all the MS items are hidden and all the others are NOT ticked.
Will I need to restore msconfig now ?

PS Have now discovered that wuauclt is a windows Update program ! -OOPS.

Edited by RonS2, 25 February 2011 - 06:04 AM.

[Macboatmaster]

When you have done that please do this. ONLY proceed as far as Step 3. DO NOT carry out Step 4.

I wanted you to do it manually, ie as above..
Sorry if I did not include Do not use the automatic fix.


I am a little confused now.
1. Is BT uninstalled.
2. Google icon. ? You just double click Internet Explorer on your desktop and having set your home page to Google.co.uk that is where the browser should OPEN.
If it is all set as that and it is NOT opening on Google but on some unrequested page PLEASE say so now, as that is a totally different issue.
3. Please go Control Panel, Users Accounts - How many accounts are on the computer please and the one you are signing in on, is it shown as "computer administrator."
4. zapped it - wuauclt
Windows Update AutoUpdate Client. This is a background process which checks with the Microsoft website for updates to the operating system. It shows up on the Task Manager's processes list when it is waiting for a response, such as to confirm permission to download an update.
Can you unzap whatever process you zapped.

Please confirm that you have done only the processes in the Microsoft article that I sent up to step 3. The purpose in running a clean boot is to see how it now performs, including Internet Explorer.
It is not likely to solve the update problem, but we can address that as soon as we can get it running, without it being like watching grass grow.

[RonS2]

Thanks for yout reply.
(1) BT is still installed I do intend to remove it , but I had not read into your instructions that it was to be done before the kb310353, I read it as a strong suggestion but not an immediate mandatory move - Sorry.
(2) When I need to be able to call up a web site frequently I set up a shortcut on desktop it has a picture to identify it and that's what I was clicking. My opening page is set to blank because I had an invasion from Bing and Conduit a little while ago, I wasn't clever enough to think of the easy way you suggested.
(3) Two pictures only
Guest marked Account is off
Owner marked computer administrator, password protected.
(4) I've not intentionally done anything outside of what you requested , but the rejection of my administrator status gummed things up a bit and it was totally unintentional to get the updates trying again. Presumably if the administrator status had been acceptable, the tests you wanted me to do were updates anyway, you didn't actually say what.

I'd like to stress that the machine is actually behaving very well all day and it's speed is pretty well as it used to be. Early morning waking up is NOT GOOD , but for the rest it does OK, email, eBay websites - all up to speed.

I've been looking at any downloads that I did at the vital dates. I found a download on 15th Feb for wic_x64_enu.exe . I'm sure I would not have voluntarily called that up so MS must have requested it. Google tells me it is a Windows imaging component (64 bit). Could this have any bearing ?

Must disappear we have visitors in 45 minutes. Thank you for your efforts on my behalf.

[Macboatmaster]

Absolutely no need to apologise
You are doing great.
1

(2) When I need to be able to call up a web site frequently I set up a shortcut on desktop it has a picture to identify it and that's what I was clicking. My opening page is set to blank because I had an invasion from Bing and Conduit a little while ago, I wasn't clever enough to think of the easy way you suggested.

The reason it is not a good idea is that the more on the desktop the longer it takes to load.

2.When you come back, please open My computer, right click on c drive and click properties, click the security tab. On your account, click just one to select. In the bottom window are all permissions checked for ALLOW please.
except special persmission which will be greyed out.

3

I've been looking at any downloads that I did at the vital dates. I found a download on 15th Feb for wic_x64_enu.exe . I'm sure I would not have voluntarily called that up so MS must have requested it. Google tells me it is a Windows imaging component (64 bit). Could this have any bearing ?

Please go start, right click My Computer, click Properties and on the General tab what is shown please under System.
If your computer is running Windows XP, do the following:

• Click Start.
• Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
  
  
• If you don't see "x64 Edition" listed, then you're running the 32-bit version of Windows XP.
• If "x64 Edition" is listed under System, you're running the 64-bit version of Windows XP.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 25 February 2011 - 12:58 PM.