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Thread: Why are these updates failing?

  1. #11
    Senior Member Mobile PC's Avatar
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    Are there diagnostics available during post? Download and burn a Memtest86. Date and time correct?

  2. #12
    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pinnacle-Project View Post
    I'm still messing with the Ultimate install. This is crazy. At one point, I got all the Important patches done but then I tried to install a Recommended security patch. It failed and I suddenly got four Important patches back again. I understand there should be a logical order to this but I should not have to guess my way through it. I tried to install things based on their release date. That certainly makes sense but it did not work. Windows Update should do all this successfully for me. Weird. I should be building my new computer right now but instead I am STILL messing around with my daughter's computer.
    Just another thought but are you installing from a retail disc? Or from the OEM Dell disc that it shipped with? I usually do a clean install from either my 32-bit W7 Pro or my 64-bit W7 Pro (both Dell OEM DVD's and I just go with whichever seems to have better driver support -- although if possible I like 64-bit just because I can add more memory, etc.). If possible, it would be best to install from the Dell OEM disc that hopefully has SP1 built in.

    What about installing W8 on it? You'd spend a lot less time installing updates. That's what I did on my Dell at home. Even though I hate W8, I weighed it out as to which was worse -- my hatred of W8 or my hatred of installing massive amounts of W7 updates. I ended up going with W8. And now I know how to disable the lock screen and boot to desktop so it's not much different than W7 now (besides the horrible tiles of course). And if your kid is a student, can get a student discount and buy it for about $79.

    I got mine here: http://www.journeyed.com/item/Microsoft#back

    Whoa, I just noticed it's reduced to $69 now. Awesome.
    Last edited by Webhead; 10-07-2014 at 03:44 AM.

  3. #13
    Senior Member Pinnacle-Project's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mobile PC View Post
    Are there diagnostics available during post? Download and burn a Memtest86. Date and time correct?
    There is a hard drive diagnostic available in the startup options during POST. It passed. I will try the Memtest86. Thanks.

  4. #14
    Senior Member Pinnacle-Project's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Webhead View Post
    Just another thought but are you installing from a retail disc? Or from the OEM Dell disc that it shipped with? I usually do a clean install from either my 32-bit W7 Pro or my 64-bit W7 Pro (both Dell OEM DVD's and I just go with whichever seems to have better driver support -- although if possible I like 64-bit just because I can add more memory, etc.). If possible, it would be best to install from the Dell OEM disc that hopefully has SP1 built in.

    What about installing W8 on it? You'd spend a lot less time installing updates. That's what I did on my Dell at home. Even though I hate W8, I weighed it out as to which was worse -- my hatred of W8 or my hatred of installing massive amounts of W7 updates. I ended up going with W8. And now I know how to disable the lock screen and boot to desktop so it's not much different than W7 now (besides the horrible tiles of course). And if your kid is a student, can get a student discount and buy it for about $79.

    I got mine here: http://www.journeyed.com/item/Microsoft#back

    Whoa, I just noticed it's reduced to $69 now. Awesome.
    It's a "retail" build. While I did not buy it, I think that is a good way of describing it. I downloaded it from Microsoft as part of a student program I once qualified for at the university I adjunct at. I do not recall the name of the program but it allowed me to download a whole bunch of stuff. Think of it as a basic version of TechNet for students.

    No plans for Win8 right now.

  5. #15
    Senior Member Pinnacle-Project's Avatar
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    I reboot the computer for an update that downloaded last night. After the reboot it gave me numerous messages about corrupt files. I reboot again and it stalled very early in the boot process. I ran a diagnostic utility that is offered as part of the Dell POST and it failed with a return code of 7. This was a refurbished drive I got through Amazon so I guess it is time to contact them.

  6. #16
    Senior Member CeeBee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pinnacle-Project View Post
    This was a refurbished drive I got through Amazon so I guess it is time to contact them.
    One thing I learned over the years was to never use refurbished drives. They all fail in a short amount of time.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Bad hard drive would definitely make sense as to why there are so many problems with the install. Thing is, drives are so cheap to buy brand new. I'm wondering what the benefit of buying one refurbished would be?

  8. #18
    Senior Member Pinnacle-Project's Avatar
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    Since this is an older computer (2007?), I assumed anything brand new might run into backward compatibility issues. Also, I did not want to invest much into an older computer. Given the amount of time I have put into this, I would have been better offer buying her something newer but I never would have guessed I would have so many problems.

  9. #19
    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    That reminds me of something I worked on yesterday. They were having many problems with a test system here at work and finally the called me to help out. It's this pressure appliance thing we have that hooks up via GPIB cables and has a large oven attached and uses LabView software. It's for testing these automotive sensors we do R&D on. It's running through this 8 year old computer. Celeron with 1gb of ram and WinXP. I decided to remove the existing NI software and reinstall. So I went to NI's website and got the latest things. First thing it did was complain about wanting the latest ".NET 4.x" So then I thought maybe I should make sure it has ".NET 3.x" and starting going into all these possibilities in my mind and decided it was probably going to be a lot of effort that didn't need to be spent. Finally I thought, "Heck, why not just put a new machine here with Win7 on it?" So I did that. Installed the NI software and it all went very smoothly and works great now.

    Sometimes it's better to just to bite the bullet and dump the old stuff and just go with something new.

  10. #20
    Senior Member slgrieb's Avatar
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    Given the range of problems you are having, Pinnacle, a bad hard drive sounds right. Thing about a refurb HD, you have to ask yourself whether the cost savings offset the hassle of possibly finding yourself holding a wet paper bag full of runny crap. But, Hey!, I've had my share of new DOA drives. Anyway, as long as we are discussing problems with Windows Update, my favorite troubleshooting tool is Microsoft's Fixit tool for Windows Update. You can do all of this stuff manually, but I've yet to find any real downside to just letting the tool automate the process.

    I also gotta admit that I think drive manufacturers are really falling down on the job when it comes to bootable diagnostics. More and more often I find that the software doesn't recognize many controllers. WAY past time where they should have given up on DOS-clone based diagnostics and moved to Linux based tools.
    Last edited by slgrieb; 10-09-2014 at 04:11 AM. Reason: YAFT
    Yes, Mr. Death... I'll play you a game! But not CHESS !!! BAH... FOOEY! My game is...
    WIFFLEBALL!

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