Windows Update stuck at "Checking for updates'

Diamonds said:

But what's interesting is they are downloading it from a site called getintopc.com. I would have thought it would come from a M/S site.

Something is definitely suspicious about that fact. I checked Norton Website Safe Web and although though they claim the site itself is OK, a member of Norton commented that he suspected that the files on that site could be compromised and have malware in them. The site itself is located in Bulgaria, a country that has a LOT of questionable business in the software and website arena.

I'd call Microsoft direct and see if you are indeed working with MS officially certified and sanctioned tech help.

Thanks for the tip. I did indeed call M/S and received the same level 1 office (Phillipines) I started out with initially before it being escalated to level 2 (India) and the Phillipine rep confirmed that the case numbers I was given for both problems are in fact legit and she could even briefly describe the nature of each.

Keep in mind that each day, I get a Microsoft tech to remotely access my pc using LogMeIn Rescue which from everything I've read is their currently used process for doing so. I am able to observe everything they do, can stop it at any time and that's how I spotted the non M/S ISO source site

What will be interesting is to compare the ISO file sizes. Since my earlier post, the M/S sourced one downloading via Chrome has 55 minutes left. The other one through IE11, 5hr&50min.

But just to be safe, I'll simply ensure the M/S sourced one be used.

I appreciate your input but please know I'm allergic to anything named Norton having been burned by that organization too many times over the years. Thanks again and stay tuned for further posts!

Hi Diamonds,
RETAIL licences allow a direct download from MS, someones giving you a runaround.
Can you start a thread in the updates/activations section. (Xref)
The update problem should be easily sorted by MS auto-activation slui4, from a command prompt.
would be handy if you copy/paste the results of this tool
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=52012

Roy

And yes, like I stated earlier, I have a retail licence and am currently doing one directly from the M/S site. In fact it has just completed and is just under 3.2GB in size. The one from getinfopc on my stricken machine still shows 3.5 hours to go.

So far no one has answered whether this is simply a download speed issue, Chrome vs. IE11 but let's set that aside for now.

I'm not trying for a moment to defend M/S but am wondering if they just assumed because I have an OEM machine that I didn't have a retail licence.

In any event, and I'm likely to show my relative novice'ness to you experts, but can you elaborate on exactly what you mean by " (Xref) The update problem should be easily sorted by MS auto-activation slui4, from a command prompt.would be handy if you copy/paste the results of this tool http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=52012".

I assume the tool should be run on the stricken machine but how do you best suggest I carry this dialogue over to what I think you are actually referring to as the "Windows Updates & Activation" section.

News Bulletin:
Both ISO downloads complete. M/S sourced file, 3,157,559kb, getintopc file, 3,315,896kb. Hmmmmmm?

In anticipation of doing a repair install, I read elsewhere on this site where doing so will delete any existing Windows Updates so I open it to get the list of those 12 or so I've installed manually only to be greeted with the usual screen informing me I have 84 important ones and 8 optional ones to install! Amazing.

No idea what happened, simply elapsed time I assume which I know many have also referenced but very different from the M/S tech's expectation that no more than 20 minutes should be needed.

So my next question is, given I'd already installed the April 2015 Service Stack update and the May 2016 Convenience Rollup update which I understand makes your unit current on updates to May of this year, are 84 and 8 reasonable numbers to expect to see from May until now?

torchwood said:

Hi Diamonds,
RETAIL licences allow a direct download from MS, someones giving you a runaround.
Can you start a thread in the updates/activations section. (Xref)
The update problem should be easily sorted by MS auto-activation slui4, from a command prompt.
would be handy if you copy/paste the results of this tool
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=52012

Roy

Roy,
No runaround. M/S did not know I had a retail licence and that is why a 3rd party site was used. They knew what device I was using (HP) and assumed it was originally loaded with Win 7. It wasn't, it originally had XP. When I updated the original SATA drive to an SSD, I purchased a retail OEM version of 7 at the same time.

According to the M/S level 2 tech, my update issue was due to my SSD not having the Intel Rapid Storage driver installed. Once downloaded from the HP site and installed and what appears to be about a 5 hour wait, updates began to appear. Some of my searches about stuck updates made mention of this driver as a potential fix but I probably paid little heed as I failed to see how this would be a likely cause.

Funny thing is that before I decided to do a clean install on the same SSD I had used for well over a year with no sign of this specific driver from Intel ever being installed, Windows updates worked just fine. But heh, so did Outlook 2010 with my Outlook.com exchange account, something M/S couldn't resolve after my clean install which was the reason for contacting them in the first place!

Thanks for your responses.