BleepingComputer.com: Windows Update installs continously fail

Heads up and an apology, but this is long, and may be confusing.

First up; My O/S is Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit

Preface:

Alright cool. So I've built this machine myself and have had it since Jul 07 with minimal problems, but none really with Vista itself. Come a few months ago, I decided to install Service pack 2 beta, and soon after that, upgraded my memory. Suddenly I'm getting graphical problems, and no amount of tinkering with drivers or uninstalling or reinstalling the video card fixes them. I chalk it up to the possibility of SP2 beta might be the problem. I try uninstalling, it won't.

So, that leads me to now, where I've reformatted my system drive, and reinstalled Vista three times, two being with the help of Microsoft on the phone, and every time leads to dead ends and my main problem now: windows update won't update properly. First go, I have like 74 updates, and with them all selected I install them, the vast majority fail, maybe two succeed, I'm prompted to restart, I do, then I still get 74 updates available. I decided to try and nip this in the butt, and install each update one by one, starting with all the 'important' ones first. I get about 20 installed, which they all fail the first go, then install fine; until one just won't install no matter what I do (clearing windows\softwaredistribution\download\, stopping and starting the update service).

I've tried installing service pack 1 with the standalone installer, but it gives me an "internal error" and some error code. Right now I really can't tell you or find out because now I'm getting an error with Windows Boot Manager telling me that a file, Netio.sys, is either missing or corrupt and is failing to load windows due to it.

I've tried searching for help based on the error codes I've been getting from the windows update, but they're all out of date, or wrong such as one "remedy" was to run a program called proxycfg.exe to "fix" your proxy settings, however proxycfg.exe doesn't exist, as every person who requests the help says after trying the suggestion.

Microsoft seems to think some virus or bug has made its way into my RAM; and by the by, I've tried the memory diagnostic tools, and no errors with that, but really at this point i donno what to do.

Thanks in advance for help.

If you've reinstalled Vista 3 times (and have made sure that all your drivers are installed), then the problem is probably not with Windows.
2 possibilities that I can think of are:
- a boot sector virus (this presumes that you just reformatted the partition that Windows is on - and not the entire drive)
- failing hardware

Since you've tested the memory and it passed, the next suggestion would be to run a bootable diagnostic utility on your hard drive.
I always recommend the utility from the manufacturer of your hard drive (rather than generic utilities) - as the manufacturer sometimes uses additional tests that are specific for their hardware. There's a list of the most common one's here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic28744.html

I'd also try some scans to see if there's any evidence of a boot sector virus. Here's a link to some free, online scans. The reason for the online scans is that they'll detect stuff that may have gotten "behind" your current protection. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/blogs/usas...?showentry=1252

Once all that's done (please let us know the results of the tests), also please let us know your system specifications. Please include the make and model of your motherboard so we can do a bit more research.

It could also be the problem of Vista itself. My 1-year old computer came with Vista Home Premium 64 bit, which I formatted and installed XP pro instead because of software compatibility problems. Recently I bought two Western Digital 1 TB hard drives (one RE3 and the other Carviar Black) to try multiboot with XP Pro, Vista 64 bit (later 7 Beta 64 bit), and Ubuntu 8.10. On two occasions, the Vista 64 bit installed fine, but after running the updates, I lost the use of mouse, which rendered the computer completely unusable. However, when I installed XP Pro and 7 Beta 64 bit on the same hard drive and the same computer, everything is fine. IMHO, Vista is not only a resource hog, but also full of problems.

Well I can't run any of those hardware diagnostics right now, because I'm reinstalling vista a fourth time; (It wouldn't boot because of netio.sys, even into safe mode, and wouldn't repair from the dvd) and I don't have any blank cd media to burn a bootable disc.

I can tell you though, while it's reformatting, my specs.

Motherboard: Foxconn G9657MA (intel 775 chipset)
Processor: Intel E6600 2.4 ghz dual core
HDDS: Western Digital Cavalier SE 80 G/B; Western Digital Cavalier SE 750 g/b (750 Gig is temporarily unplugged)
RAM: 8 G/B of Patriot DDR2 800mhz (5-5-5-12 timing) (currently only 4 GB are installed)
Video card: EVGA nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS

other hardware installed:
liteon DVD burner/reader
Linksys rangefinder wireless networking card
Pinacle HD TV tuner desktop card

Will edit with the results of the HDD diagnostics when I have vista reinstalled and run them.

Make sure you don't have any any other devices, such as printer, attached to your computer while installing.

You might also want to take a look at this link ... tons of information!
http://kbupdate.info/windows-vista-2008-12.php

The only other hardware connected is my ps/2 keyboard and my wireless logitech mouse.

I used Western Digital's Data Lifegaurd diagnostics from the reply above, ran a extended test on my hdd, and it passed the test.

Pandasecurity's online test gave me 3 tracking cookies (Doubleclick, mediaplex, and one other, i can't remember)
Bitdefender's online test gave me no problems found.
F-secure found 5 tracking cookies, and is going to disinfect them (2o7, atdmt, doubleclick, webtrends, mediaplex)
ESET Free scan found no problems

also; I'm not sure what this is, but I keep getting a windows error message saying "Superfetch has stopped working" and this is the additional information that comes up:

Quote

This post has been edited by Bashh: 07 February 2009 - 04:48 PM

Search your hard drive for files ending in .dmp or .mdmp.
When you find them, use this link to perform an analysis of the dump file: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic176011.html
Copy/paste the results into your next post.

FWIW - the error message that you posted is an application crash (due to a memory access violation). The link above was designed for kernel dumps, but will work just fine for application dumps.

I'm not getting any .dmp or .sdmp files :\

See if a repair install will work
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-re...tall-vista.html

Also, look at this topic:
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/6972...ed-working.html

This post has been edited by Jacee: 07 February 2009 - 08:45 PM

Just tried that, updating instead of reinstalling, this time after updating 15 succeeded, 55 failed, error codes are such as 80091007, 80070057, and 8007370B.

I was brainstorming with a friend, a lot of this seemed to stop working after i updated my bios on my motherboard. is there any way to roll back or reinstall old bios?

Yes you can "unupdate" - but as long as you internet connection is working I wouldn't think it's the BIOS.

Can you locate the Windows Update logfiles? This article will help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/902093
You can copy/paste the log file into your next post and we can take a look at it.

log file is 11,000+ lines long, had to upload it as an attachment.

From what little I'm able to tell, this may be a problem with registry permissions being changed/corrupted.

As such, I'd suggest you follow the instructions for the registry permissions (but NOT the file permissions) here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/blogs/usas...?showentry=1415

The only one of those things that even would run and do anything was creating the 'reset.cmd' file, it did go through and reset everything in the registry from what i could tell, but it seems the updates are still failing, terribly.

Then I'd have to suggest that you contact Microsoft for support (my only other idea at this point is a format and reinstall - which is a bit drastic for this issue). They offer free support for Windows Update issues.

Use IE to go to this link: http://support.microsoft.com/ph/6527#tab0
There'll be a contact link in the upper right corner.

If they resolve your issue, please post back with the resolution as it'll help others who encounter the same problem.
Thanks!