windows xp update problem

hi, I have my windows xp updater set to notify me and I select the updates I want to download. this has been working fine for me. today I checked for more updates and selected a couple and clicked download. normally the download starts and then I',m notified that the updates are ready to be installed. this time nothing is happening when I clicked download. when I checked the list again the updates I tried to download are gone from the list but I didn't receive a message that they are ready to be installed and I know they weren't downloaded because there was no download activity indicated by the icon. I tried a system restore to a point that I knew was ok and I still got the same problem. I'm sure it's something simple but I haven't changed anything on my system so I'm baffled. anyone know what goes on here? thanks

 

hi, I also just noticed that the folder c:\WUTemp is missing. could that be part of the problem?

 

this windows fix will reset the up-dater & restore any missing files connected to the updater, on the start menu,windows has a "help and support" tab,blue button with a question mark"?",on that menu under "pick a task"you'll see an option to update windows with their dedicated page,this is how i always update without using the IE,seems to update a bit more smoothly this way,and they won't hang like they do sometimes using the IE browser,below is the up-date fix.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058/en-us

 

thanks I'll check it out. I seem to have located 4 new folders in c:\windows that look like the updates I attempted to download. one of them is c:\windows\$NtuninstallKB961501$\spuninst and the other 3 just have different KB's so I'm sure they are updates and they are blue in color I guess meaning they're compressed. they just don't seem to be in the right folder.

 

hi, I was browsing with IE6 and decided to install IE8 figuring I need to get out of the stone age. now everything is working ok although I had to manually download an update before IE8 would install. after I manually installed the missing update and installed IE8 everthing is running smooth again and the updater is working properly. what's strange was that the updater was working fine one day and quit working right the next day but everythings good now. that's why when my computer is running smoothly I hate to mess with it.thanks.