Windows Vista Update Error

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Okay I'm usually loathe to post help topics as I'm sure the answer to my problem is out there on the internet somewhere. However, I've done a bunch of searches (here and elsewhere) and tried the recommended fixes, all to no avail. So consider this my last resort .

Long story short, every time I try to update Windows using "Windows Update" on my laptop I get the following message:

Error Code 80070005 Windows Update Encountered an Unknown Error.

My searches elsewhere have led me to believe this may have something to do with what my admin permissions are set to on my comp, but any fixes related to that have so far not worked. As well, I've also been led to believe it has something to do with having 4G of RAM on your comp. My laptop specs are:

Windows Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 1
64-bit Operating System
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9400 @ 2.53 GHz 2.53 GHz
4.00 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS

Anyways, I haven't done any Windows updates for probably over a year now as when I initially encountered the error I thought it may auto-resolve itself and then I stopped using my laptop. Of course, with the release of SC2 (and having to deal with the overheating GPU problem that created...) this issue fell back onto my radar.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

[cKy]

SP1? Yikes. I would manually download SP2 before anything. Possibly do a malware scan or something in safe mode as well.

But get SP2 on there, that would be a good start

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935791

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by cKy

SP1? Yikes. I would manually download SP2 before anything. Possibly do a malware scan or something in safe mode as well.

But get SP2 on there, that would be a good start

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935791

Ya I tried downloading SP2 manually a little while back but that ended up failing as well. Might have been because I was unaware of the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit at the time so I may have just downloaded the wrong version. I'll give it another try.

I've kept my anti-virus, firewall, etc, up-to-date and regularly do scans so I should hopefully be good to go in that regard...

[Mike F]

Probably not what your looking for, but updating to Windows 7 is always advisable, particularly if you're having issues.

Edit -- if not, a Vista re-install.

[Hemi-Cuda]

i'd advise a complete wipe and fresh Win 7 install. Vista was the mistake Microsoft made before getting it right with 7, like WinME and Win2k

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i'd advise a complete wipe and fresh Win 7 install. Vista was the mistake Microsoft made before getting it right with 7, like WinME and Win2k

I think that the truth is closer to 7 being a formal release of what Vista became a few years after release (definitely post-SP1), with a few extra welcome tweaks.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Mike F

I think that the truth is closer to 7 being a formal release of what Vista became a few years after release (definitely post-SP1), with a few extra welcome tweaks.

you can't tweak Vista into becoming less bloating and more streamlined. Microsoft re-wrote the kernel for 7, which is why it performs better on even moderate PC's than Vista does

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

you can't tweak Vista into becoming less bloating and more streamlined. Microsoft re-wrote the kernel for 7, which is why it performs better on even moderate PC's than Vista does

It also outperforms XP in most cases.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

you can't tweak Vista into becoming less bloating and more streamlined. Microsoft re-wrote the kernel for 7, which is why it performs better on even moderate PC's than Vista does

No doubt is sleeker under the hood, but my point was more that the issues that made Vista such a flop early were, by and large, remedied over its development. If you have the hardware to run Vista in its post-SP2 form, it's really a good OS -- though, as I said, 7 has some additional features I like that make it worth the upgrade.

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Well, I tried installing Service Pack 2 for Vista outside of Windows update. With only a sliver left on the install bar after an hour or so of installation I was greeted with a "Catastrophic Failure" message accompanied with another error code. At this point it dawned on me that my computer was probably so far off track in its own little world after going a year and 3 months without an update that I had no choice.... so I forked over $130.00 and 5 hours of setup later I am writing you this from Windows 7 haha.

Thanks for the tips though. Vista seemed pretty terrible to me from the get go, but that maybe had something to do with it never getting updated. Windows 7 is working great so far... any chance it improves SC2 performance?! I heard its less of a resource hog than Vista was.

[cKy]

You did the right thing. When you installed 7 did you do a clean install (formatted drive) or did you do the upgrade?

[HPLovecraft]

I did a Windows update on my girlfriend's laptop running on Vista and it fudged it so badly it refused to start afterward. Had to do a system restore.

God, I hate Vista. What was the point of that OS, anyway?

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by cKy

You did the right thing. When you installed 7 did you do a clean install (formatted drive) or did you do the upgrade?

Uhhhhhh..... upgrade as it was $100 cheaper. I hope this is not frowned upon and still falls into the "right thing" category you mentioned, heh.

With what little I know, I de-fragmented the C: (which still shows as Vista64 for some reason), scanned for errors, did a complete download of all the updates and cleaned up the disk space. Anything else I should be looking to do?

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by FlamesAllTheWay

Uhhhhhh..... upgrade as it was $100 cheaper. I hope this is not frowned upon and still falls into the "right thing" category you mentioned, heh.

With what little I know, I de-fragmented the C: (which still shows as Vista64 for some reason), scanned for errors, did a complete download of all the updates and cleaned up the disk space. Anything else I should be looking to do?

You can still do a clean install with an upgrade disc, can't you?

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Rathji

You can still do a clean install with an upgrade disc, can't you?

Not sure.

There was an option on the Microsoft website for a Full version download at like $230.00 and then an option for the upgrade download at about $130.00. I chose the latter, so I don't have any disc and the email I received just has options for the upgrade downloads.

[Vulcan]

I did a clean install from Vista to Windows 7 from an upgrade disc, mainly because I moved to 64 bit. I'd think it should give the option on a download too as you begin to install it but anyways I've heard that the clean install isn't quite as needed as with older versions of Windows.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by FlamesAllTheWay

Not sure.

There was an option on the Microsoft website for a Full version download at like $230.00 and then an option for the upgrade download at about $130.00. I chose the latter, so I don't have any disc and the email I received just has options for the upgrade downloads.

Although I have personally never done an install with an upgrade disc that isn't a Volume License, I am 99% sure you can with a retail or OEM copy.

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Hmmm, I can check again and see. I take it a clean install is more favourable than the upgrade then?

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by FlamesAllTheWay

Ya I tried downloading SP2 manually a little while back but that ended up failing as well. Might have been because I was unaware of the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit at the time so I may have just downloaded the wrong version. I'll give it another try.

I've kept my anti-virus, firewall, etc, up-to-date and regularly do scans so I should hopefully be good to go in that regard...

The download or the install of SP2 failed? You can do a manual download of the SP2 install file, not just of the extractor - this is what you should download.

I personally would rebuild your computer with Vista then install sp2. Its not difficult to reinstall.

Also, I assume you have a legit copy of Vista.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by FlamesAllTheWay

Hmmm, I can check again and see. I take it a clean install is more favourable than the upgrade then?

Historically, for several reasons a clean install has always worked better than an upgrade.