Windows Update failing with Error codes: 8007371B, 800736B3, 80070246

shiphen said:

No problem - done
J

I can't see any attachment?

shiphen said:

It promised me it had done it too! Oh well - try this one.

J

Much better! Thanks.

Third time lucky! Here's your file: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16537616/sh...nents%20v3.zip

Can I have another SURT log afterwards please? Because your SURT log is so big now, it'll be much easier for you to open this file:

C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CheckSUR.log

And copy and paste the contents into your post, rather than zipping it up twice and attaching it :)

Tom

Hmm, looks like we might have it this time! Apparently it's fixed it, but could you run the SURT and post the same log as before please? I just want to make sure it's reporting no problems before I send you on your way.

Tom

Finally Looks like we've ironed out all of the creases.

How is your computer performing now? Are the updates installing?

Tom

Hi J,

Glad to hear it!

Yes, I was editing one of your registry hives directly. The file you uploaded for me was your COMPONENTS hive which contains all of the information about Windows Updates - don't worry, it doesn't contain any personal information. I think it's easier if I explain your problem with an example. This is one of the lines in your CheckSUR log:

amd64_microsoft-windows-authentication-authui_31bf385¶ad364e35_6.1.7601.17514ßnone_6a1982860c°76c38

I have highlighted the corruptions from your registry. These are what's known as a bitflip, where the binary sequence for that character becomes corrupt leading to one digit flipping to another (0 to 1 or vice versa).

Let's take this character: ¶. It should be a 6 - just something I know, not something you can work out.
When we look at it's binary sequence, we can see it's this:

10110110

And here's a 6's binary:

00110110

As you can see, the first bit has changed from a 1 to a 0, changing the character completely. The components hive is like a big address book for Windows Updates and this corruption has changed the referenced location of one of the files - so when Windows tries to look for it, it will be looking in the wrong place. Depending on the corruption, it might report the file missing all together, or it may detect that the registry key is corrupt. All of those symbols were just one, two or in one case, three bits different from what they should have been. So I loaded your registry hive and worked my way through that whole list and renamed the keys manually :) Fortunately, there aren't many things that can cause bit flips as it has to be a fault with something that has direct access to the binary - failing hard disk/hard disk controller, very low level drivers etc. etc.

I think the first test to do is a chkdsk: Check Disk - chkdsk - Vista Forums

Tom