Question Windows update

[DaGaffer]

Anyone else noticed its updating a LOT lately? I've been having slow bootup issues with my PC, and I've noticed at the same time it started, I seemed to be getting daily windows updates (Win7 Home Premium 64 bit). Any connection? (Looking at the event log files is telling me jack shit except there's "boot degredation" on a bunch of windows applications).

 

[TdC]

yes, I too have been having lots of updates. I noticed because I was getting the blood-boiling "you must rebooteth now" message that the most inconvenient of times

 

[soze]

I have not had update more than once a week since I built it. If it is saying you have boot issues then run a sfc /scannow on your machine see if it finds and fixes any of the boot issues.

Go to Windows Update and then View Update History. See if any are failing it sounds to me like some updates are failing then retrying the next day. Fail retry ect?

 

[Madmaxx]

ive had 6 updates this week, and 18 the week before that almost caused D3 to freeze and made me go LD on daoc once as it was doing 12 at once lol.

 

[dysfunction]

I've only had one update this week.

 

[DaGaffer]

I have not had update more than once a week since I built it. If it is saying you have boot issues then run a sfc /scannow on your machine see if it finds and fixes any of the boot issues.

Go to Windows Update and then View Update History. See if any are failing it sounds to me like some updates are failing then retrying the next day. Fail retry ect?

The updates are happening. I'm getting so many because I recently installed SQL and Visual Studio (for the missus, part of a course she's doing) and it seems to be those (and .NET framework) that are updating so much. What I can't work out is whether the boot issue is related or not, the timing suggests it is.

 

[Athan]

Only extra update I've seen in the past month is a re-issue of the one for some font vulnerability. This is Win 7 64 bit (Home Premium).

Although if you're seeing 'slow boots', I have had an issue for about 2 months now, likely triggered by some update, where some part of the boot-up process is hanging for 90-120s, the real symptom being that my user's Startup folder items don't run until that long after starting the boot, despite me having easily been logged in and staring at the desktop for over a minute by then. I can manually start them via the menu if needs be.

Oh and .NET ... I had updates for some version of that repeatedly fail at one point, I can't recall if I did something to resolve it or a later update fixed the issue.

 

[old.Osy]

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[TdC]

sooo after yesterday's update my pc didn't want to boot into windows 7 pro yesterday evening though it had been fine all day and the week before. I raged because I had a mega Skyrim session on the menu along with many mince pies and glasses of sherry.

anyway, windows rescue would not let me roll back to ANY save point, so I went in to my primary OS and grabbed my save games off the windows disk and then wrote 0's across the disk and went in to windows reinstall mode. 400MB of windows patches and 10+GB of Skyrim and mods later I was happily in game

 

[Bigmac]

It's why I've turned Windows Update off as it stops my pc from booting up.

 

[Access Denied]

I only use Windows Update once when I've done a fresh install. After that I turn the bloody thing off and leave it off.

 

[Athan]

I just hope you both have a strong firewall and only browse the web minimally, preferably not with IE, to trusted sites and with AdBlock or equivalent....

 

[Access Denied]

I just hope you both have a strong firewall and only browse the web minimally, preferably not with IE, to trusted sites and with AdBlock or equivalent....

Why? I use the Windows Firewall and have used IE since I started using computers, see no reason to change that habit. Haven't had a virus in years.

 

[soze]

I have never had a virus that was not my fault. My computers have never been hacked. With incoming traffic port blocked on most routers the only way to get into trouble is to get into it yourself. I hate "users" who did nothing to get a virus. It is always an email or a link a user clicks on to get a virus. Real hacking is probably very rare and people who know how to do it are not going to waste their time with me.

And I have Windows update turned on. It has never caused me a problem on a personal computer and it is a good way to stay up to date with device drivers.

On servers it is different.

 

[old.Osy]

You guys with the unwarranted WU fright are on par with the Mayans and their calendar. Just saying.

 

[Bahumat]

Never had problems with windows updates. I thought I did once on an old xp machine, but turns out the drive was dying and the updates must have tried to access that part of the drive.

 

[Bigmac]

Well my windows 7 would not boot up again, kept booting up in system repair mode and it couldn't tell me what the problem was and couldn't auto fix it either. All the repair options that come with the windows 7 disk don't work either so I'm here installing windows 7 again for the 5th time. No idea how or why windows 7 is breaking but it's getting tiresome, never had as much problems on vista and xp.

Going to try installing all the updates this time and hope it doesn't break it again.

 

[old.Osy]

Well my windows 7 would not boot up again, kept booting up in system repair mode and it couldn't tell me what the problem was and couldn't auto fix it either. All the repair options that come with the windows 7 disk don't work either so I'm here installing windows 7 again for the 5th time. No idea how or why windows 7 is breaking but it's getting tiresome, never had as much problems on vista and xp.

Going to try installing all the updates this time and hope it doesn't break it again.

You're obviously doing something else wrong. WU is not the culprit here.

</replace user>

 

[Athan]

I guess it's always possible BigMac has hardware with drivers that have subtle bugs and that ends up slowly shafting his install. It's that or just marginally broken hardware.

 

[dysfunction]

I guess it's always possible BigMac has hardware with drivers that have subtle bugs and that ends up slowly shafting his install. It's that or just marginally broken hardware.

I reckon this is the cause rather than a problem with Windows 7.

 

[old.Osy]

My closing statement still stands, regardless of the root cause What annoys me greatly is that non-savy users tend to propagate this unfounded WU scare to other non-savy users, leading to junk ridden machines.

 

[Bahumat]

I bet it's a faulty hard drive. Make a list of possibilities and start to rule them out

 

[Bigmac]

Well a WU after installing service pack 1 caused my pc not to boot up yet again, went straight into repair mode. I witnessed this, the computer was installing updates during a restart, got to 30% then rebooted. I managed to system restore just after service pack 1 was installed and turned off the WU. This was 2 days since my last crash.

I installed windows 7.
I put AVG anti virus on and updated and scanned.
I updated all hardware drivers.
I then updated windows 7 with WU up to just after the service pack 1.
Then there was 13 more WU that installed but after these the pc would boot up in repair mode.

I didn't even use this pc for anything else, not even browsing till I was fully up to date, which I could never do. So Osy please explain what I am doing wrong instead of being a complete tosser.

edit: Athan I was thinking that could be the cause of it but everything seems fine in the control panel, computer status etc. Hard drive is new, only a few months old.

 

[Bigmac]

 

[Trem]

I have this update about 10 fucking times now, always the same one and same size. I have installed it all those times but it just keeps on prompting me to install it.

 

[caLLous]

Look at the update history and see if it was successful each of those times or if it failed (it probably either failed or it's a different update).

 

[Athan]

I have this update about 10 fucking times now, always the same one and same size. I have installed it all those times but it just keeps on prompting me to install it.

(.NET 4 update)

As I said earlier in this thread: "Oh and .NET ... I had updates for some version of that repeatedly fail at one point, I can't recall if I did something to resolve it or a later update fixed the issue."

I really wish I could remember how I eventually resolved that issue, so as to pass it on. I'm half certain I tried uninstalling it and reinstalling that .NET version from latest installer, but can't recall if that actually did fix the issue.

 

[Athan]

Well a WU after installing service pack 1 caused my pc not to boot up yet again, went straight into repair mode. I witnessed this, the computer was installing updates during a restart, got to 30% then rebooted. I managed to system restore just after service pack 1 was installed and turned off the WU. This was 2 days since my last crash.

I installed windows 7.
I put AVG anti virus on and updated and scanned.
I updated all hardware drivers.
I then updated windows 7 with WU up to just after the service pack 1.
Then there was 13 more WU that installed but after these the pc would boot up in repair mode.

Given the listing of failed updates you provided... I'd try doing them one by one, with a reboot between each, not only to track down the actual culprit, but also to get the others actually installed. Easy enough to click through in WU to the list and untick the unwanted ones.

Also, if it comes down to a single one that just won't go in without problems you could blacklist it (check what it actually *is* mind you, as if it's for something important you don't want to leave your ass hanging out for the whole internet to abuse).

 

[old.Osy]

Event viewer might answer some questions. Why did those updates fail to install? Is there a specific error message, a event ID that can be tracked via google to find a resolution?

One thing I don't approve of is the use of AVG as your antivir. It's a bloated, resource hog piece of crap. Have a go at Microsoft Security Essentials, it's flawless and engineered to go hand in hand with the OS. Also, completely free.

- How are your partitions laid out? Are you sure you have enough disk space to install those updates? (long shot, but i have to ask).
- Run a chkdsk /f /r in command prompt, press Y, and reboot.
- How many USB gimmicks do you have and are they plugged in when the error occurs? Have you tried unplugging them one by one and rebooting to see if the nastiness goes away?
- Do you have a dedicated video card? If yes, how recently have you checked your vents for dust and proper operation?
- Faulty RAM sticks have more than often lead to erratic behaviour such as this. How many do you have? Are they in the "default" slots on the motherboard? Try switching them around and/or removing one to see if this happens again. Repeat with the other memory stick/slot.

I could go on and on, but this should see you through the night.

@Tremlar - I see you use Nero. Don't. Imgburn will do whatever you require.

 

[TdC]

how recently have you checked your vents for dust and proper operation?

check em anyway. I'm lazy and didn't check for a year or so. my poota was packed with dust 0o