Windows Update Problem

Alright guys, since yesterday I haven't been able to use windows update, i have had the 3 services you need enabled as well so it's not that, heres the error I get:
"[Error number: 0x800A01AD]
Windows Update has encountered an error and cannot display the requested page. You may find the following resources helpful in resolving the problem:"

Anyway yesterday it worked and i was gonna dl sp2 then but didnt and then i tried it again in the afternoon and I got this error, I'm on sp2 now but it did take an awful long time to install, like, overnite install and I thought something was seriously wrong with the comp but I ran 3dmark and my score is fine...

 

I'd order the CD and stay away from WU for a while. The servers are being swarmed by millions of impatient people with dial-up service and no way to download the Network Install and no willingness to wait for the mail to bring the CD.

Think of how long a server is tied up by a client that gets 5KB/second, and has 80-plus MB to download.

I'm guessing, but I'd say you needn't assume there's anything wrong with your machine, just because you can't get WU to work for you.

 

Yea that was my guess, since it worked at the start of the day and sp2 came up. Oh and btw, is they're anyway to use WU without automatic updates on? I really hate that service.. also, why do you supposed sp2 took so long to uninstall? It musta been like 8 hours! (I was using the network install btw, its exactly the same as the WU sp2 right?)

 

As I understand it -- and that's not always right -- as soon as you install V5 of WU (or SP2, whichever comes first), you lose the old ability to just go to the WU site and scan and get your downloads. You have to turn Automatic Updates ON before you go to Windows Update, or Windows Update will not report anything that you need.

Now, I THINK the way to sorta get around that is to leave Auto Upd OFF until you're ready to go to the WU site to check for new patches, then turn Auto Upd ON when you're ready, and THEN go to the WU site to see what's there, and ALWAYS use the CUSTOM switch (I think that's what I remember its name was), not the EXPRESS switch. The Express switch will install all of the (old category) RECOMMENDED patches, as well as the (old category) CRITICAL patches. With the CUSTOM setting, you get to choose, and turn down the so-called RECOMMENDED patches, as in V4 of Windows Update.

But all of that is just what I THINK is a good way of doing things, and I can only speculate, because so far we haven't had a chance to try the new WU for anything except SP2, and that works the same way for both the CUSTOM and the EXPRESS settings: it's the same update.

We'll have to wait for the first patch to find out exactly how this thing wants to work, and what the workarounds are that let us continue to get our updates when we want them, and not be bothered by that annoying icon in the tray popping up every time we reboot.

Why are you asking about the time to UNinstall SP2? I thought you just INSTALLED it. I think you meant to ask about the time it took to INSTALL the upgrade.

And NO, the Network Install is not the same as the WU install, but the end result on YOUR COMPUTER is the same. The Network Install package (and the CD) is 272 MB of files, but installs only what your machine needs. The WU method scans your machine and downloads and installs only what you need, so you never have to wait out the entire 272-MB download.

I'm wondering whether you downloaded the 272 MB Network Install, but then had Automatic Updates working, so that YOUR installation of SP2 used the Automatic Updates system, and that "drizzled down" your needed files over an eight-hour period. Hmmm?

(Oh, and the CD from MS has some extra tools on it that are intended for very advanced users and IT pros. So the CD actually has MORE THAN 272 MB on it. But you only get the tools installed if you work it right. You can't install the tools by accident, and they never automatically install.)

 

whoops, typo, yea I ment INSTALL not UNinstall, sry, lol. Oh and yea that's what I think happened, automatic updates may have interfered... oh yea it couldent find a file called atapi.sys to backup even tho it was in the right folder it was looking at, hmmm...

 

EDIT:SORRY. POSTED BEFORE I SAW YOUR REPLY.
So, what abt the other stuff? Is it possible that you had Auto Updates ON when you tried to install the SP, and the Auto Updates system downloaded your files bit by bit, over the eight-hour period? If you really were using the Network Install package, the whole process should have taken well under an hour,

The servers are practically crawling, because millions of nervous people are trying to get the Auto Updates version ASAP. They all remember how fast the last round of malware came out just after the last round of patches -- and the malware took advantage of the fact that not everybody had the patches yet.

 

Haha, yes, I hope they start to use a bittorent type thing someday, might speed things up a bit. Oh yea and do you know where i can get a file called "atapi.sys" from sp1, it's in windows/system32.. it never backed it up for some reason and i wanna be safeish.

 

For the atapi.sys you can go to:

http://www.dynamiclink.nl/index.htm

 

Hey, thanks Clark.