Brand new XP install won't in stall ANY Windows updates

[bamim2]

OK. No pressure, but I'm REALLY hoping someone here can help me with this. It has been driving me crazy(er) for 4 or 5 days now. I've got almost 100 hours into this. I've searched & tried 20 different fixes & nothing has helped. Now, on to the problem & hopefully a resolution.

I've installed Windows XP Pro 32-bit on a system that built from parts. It's an AMD CPU, ECS Motherboard, 4GB RAM, 1GB Hitachi HD, a 400Watt PSU & a 1Gb/s NIC. That's it. Nothing fancy at all. In addition to that, I've installed XP no less than 50 times over the last 10-12 years or how ever long it has been out. I've NEVER run into this problem before. I can't help but think that since XP is at EOL in a few months, that MicroSoft has just put some kind of weirdness on their update tool so people HAVE to upgrade to 7 or 8.

I installed XP. ran the CD that came with the Motherboard & installed all of the software for the chipset, VGA, etc. Then, rebooted & activated Windows. I then clicked on the "Windows Updates" link & went to go install updates as I have EVERY time. When I got there, the site gave me errors about not being able to find itself or some ridiculous MicroSoft thing.

I did some searches that told me to manually download & installed Service Pack 3 for XP. So I did & rebooted. No help. Then I manually downloaded & installed IE 8 & some patches for it & rebooted. No help. I did 100 different things & nothing helped. I had Auto Update set to download, but not install. The next morning I looked & low & behold there were 150 updates downloaded & waiting for me to install. So I did. I rebooted.

I went back to the update site & was able to run the update tool, but when I went to install ANY updates, I get the error, "Some updates were not installed" & NO updates are installed. I've tried & tried a bunch of things to get passed this, but no matter what, I get the same error message & cannot install updates. NOR do they automatically show up as they did the other day.

I've tried reformatting my drive & reinstalling XP. Same results. I try various things, but the result is the same. Install SP 3 manually. Install IE 8 Manually. I searched for, found, downloaded & ran 10 different MS "Fix it" apps & some things were fixed, but MANY were not.

Right now here are the things it says it can't fix:
- Service registration is missing or corrupt
- Windows Update error 0x800B0100(2013-12-09-T-12_35_38P)
- Problems installing recent updates
- Problems installing recent updates
- Cryptographic service components are not registered

If anyone would be so kind as to help me with some ideas on how to proceed or fix some of the above errors, I would REALLY appreciate it.

 

[Saga Lout]

I'll try to spend a bit of time on this site looking for problems I can help others with & not just come here when I need help myself.

That beats a Best Answer every time - besides, I've lost track of what fixed what anyway.

 

[Hawkeye22]

A lot of people including myself have been having XP update problems. If you wait long enough, it will resolve itself. Here is what the problem is. It should be fixed sometime in January.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/exponential-algorithm-making-windows-xp-miserable-could-be-fixed/

 

[pjmelect]

As Hawkeye22 said the problem with the update not working on a clean install of Windows XP SP3 is due to problems at Microsoft's end. Running all of the fixit and other fixes can break Windows update. I would suggest that you restore back to when you tried to fix the update problem or reinstall again.

To get update working, you can either turn on automatic updates (which should work) and let the updates install themselves or install IE8 + the latest cumulative security updates (note untick the install updates box as this does not work yet) then install the updater version 2.0 update which you can download from Microsoft. Once you have done this the updates should work as normal.
I spent many many hours trying to sort out this problem and calling Microsoft all the names under the sun.

 

[MrFridey]

Hi All,

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
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21
•Internet Explorer 8
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/upgrade-your-browser
•Update for Windows XP (KB927891)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891
•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)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36574
•Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP (KB2799329)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36418
•Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP (KB2898785)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41404