Solved Are Win7 x64-based updates needed on netbook running 32-bit OS?

[LeftyPicker]

Just bought used Acer Aspire One Happy2-13647 netbook with Win7 Home Premium fresh install. I installed my own copy of MS Office 2003. Ran Windows Update. Results say there are 177 "important" updates to install, but most are for "x64-based systems." Are these necessary when my netbook OS is Win7 32-bit? BTW, my netbook has an Intel atom N570 CPU which is 64-bit capable, but max RAM is only 2GB, so not practical to attempt an upgrade to 64-bit OS. I plan to stay with the 32-bit OS currently installed. Thanks.

 

[Laith]

Do not install them no matter what. If you install the updates for x64 it will mess up your system real bad.

 

[DavidE]

Are you sure you have Win 7 32 bit installed ?
Look at Control Panel > System and see what it shows.

 

[LeftyPicker]

Thanks to both of you. I discovered it is running a 64-bit version. I proceeded to download and install the 183 updates, but after running all night long, it is churning at update 163 of 183 this morning and has not changed in the past 2 hours. Progress was at 157 of 183 when I went to bed last night. A pop-up window was up this morning that said I was running low on memory. 2GB is what I have installed, and that is the most this machine will accept. CPU is an Intel Atom N570. Windows Task Manager says 1.54GB is currently being used. CPU useage is bouncing back and forth between 0% and 7%. No other applications are running. Should I continue waiting with hope it will eventually complete the install, or should I take a different course of action?

 

[Rahmani]

I guess the updates are taking some of your storage, if I'm not mistaken, updates might fail if you're running low on storage.

 

[DavidE]

Click on View Update History.
If you can open that window do you see the 162 updates, and what does it show ?
I think it might be something like "Pending" if they are waiting for a reboot to complete the update.
If they are "Pending", hopefully you won't have to redo all those if you do have to Cancel the Windows Update that is running.

If you are stuck at update 163 I think at some point you are going to have to Cancel, or force a Restart.

I never had an update take that long, and i never had a memory warning when doing Windows Updates.

 

[LeftyPicker]

Thanks, David. Had to force a restart. View of update history showed many 'failures,' many 'pending' and a few 'successful.' Clicked on 'Stop Installation' but it would not stop. Clicked on 'Shutdown' but it reverted to the Windows screen with a message saying not to unplug or stop computer because it was still installing updates [163 of 183]. At that point, I held down the power button and forced a restart.

Powered up and screen said it was configuring Windows updates. Restarted twice by itself. Now appears to be up and running normally. Popup message says updates are available.

I'm going to 1st unistall Office 2003 which I installed earlier. 2nd, I am going to check settings on virtual memory and set it for self management. Then, I will have Win Update search for needed updates. Hopefully this will force update to focus on updating the OS only. If it works, I will reinstall Office 2003 and rerun Windows Update.

The person from whom I bought this netbook advertised it as having been reset to factory settings and upgraded the OS from Win7 Starter to Win7 Home Premium. Appears from my review of update history dates, the seller also installed a limited number of OS updates.

Like you, I have never had a machine take so long to install updates. I will repost after making these changes. Thanks again for your help.

 

[DavidE]

Sounds good, you're making progress.
You shouldn't have to uninstall Office 2003, you should be able to uncheck all the Office Updates so they don't install until you want them to.
I don't have WU set to automatically update, I have it notify me when updates are available so I can control what and when gets updated.
That's your choice, which way you want to do it.

Yes, good idea, check your virtual memory settings.
Also check your Hard Drive space to make sure you're not running out of space.

fwiw, I always Install these updates separately, not grouped with any other updates:
Service Pack
New version of Internet Explorer
Program update for MSE (MS Security Essentials)

 

[LeftyPicker]

It worked! All is well. Increased min and max virtual memory. 37 updates remained which installed without incident. Next I will do some optimization tweaks to start-up programs and Windows services.

David, many thanks for your help and for the suggested update install order.

 

[DavidE]

You're welcome and glad to hear you got it fixed.
Here is an optimize tutorial by Brink you might find helpful:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html

I don't disable any default MS services !