Interesting problem

[Boris]

Friend just rang me with an interesting one.

He is unable to access either of these two web pages

Microsoft Update

http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdat...t.aspx?ln=en-us

or

Windows Update

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

He has tried it using these browsers :-

IE7

SlimBrowser

Firefox 3 (with IE Tab add-on)

and each time the hour-glass appears, it says "waiting for ..........", then the browser just hangs.

Every other page he tries to access works perfectly.

Any ideas ?

Oh ............. he is using XP Pro with SP3 and had no trouble installing 2 updates last week.

[Boris]

Just got him to run Belarc Advisor and he's sent me the screen shot below, showing that the only hot-fixes he does not have installed are the ones below - all released this week.

[Boris]

Right I've narrowed it down a bit :)

His Automatic Updates Service Startup Type is Automatic .................... but it seems to be stuck on "Starting", and is not "Started"

[Scarecrow Man]

Dial-a-fix :D

Site note: You should also try https://update.microsoft.com (notice the HTTPS).

[Boris]

Thanks Nick

Dial-a Fix didn't resolve it. I spent all day over there today and the only solution in the end after numerous System Restore attempts was to go back to an image he took of his C:\ drive about 3 months back and then update everything else from then. Luckily all his data was on D:\ :) :)