Solved Windows Update Fails with Error Code 80071A91

[markinzeroland]

Hi,

All Windows automatic updates have been failing since 2015-11-12. The last successful update was the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - November 2015 (KB890830) on 11/12/2015 03:17. The first failed update since then was Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3100213) on 11/13/2015 20:25.

Manual installation of the pending updates does not work. Reboot does not install the pending updates either. Another symptom was that Windows was no longer detecting my third party Anti-Virus software. I removed and reinstalled the software thinking it might be related and Windows started detecting the Anti-Virus software again but I can no longer access the computers from other computers on my home network. For now let's focus on the Windows problem which may be hardware failure induced--hardware crash/power cycle without a Shutdown.



System details are as follows:

• Dell XPS 420 Desktop
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, SP1
• Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 2.4 GHz
• 8 GB of memory
• nVidia GeForce 8800 GT
• Generic Sound (on motherboard)
• Intel RAID 1 volume with two Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003-9YN162 1 TB SATA Hard Drives
• Dell KM632 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
• McAfee Internet Security Suite
• Internet Explorer 11

Symptoms and troubleshooting to date indicates I have an intermittent hard drive failure. It appears that one of the two drives needs to be replaced. Dell boot diagnostics reported a hard drive error code 2000-0142 and one drive has dropped out of the array a couple times the last three months. A rebuild both times corrected the problem. Currently, the Intel Rapid Store Technology application is reporting the array as good but I am experiencing extremely sluggish performance. Internet Explorer appears particularly slow and it's not my ISP.

I'd like to get this software issue resolved so I can replace the hard drives in the array. With a RAID 1 mirrored array, Intel Rapid Store Technology with allow me to replace the hard drives one-by-one and rebuild the volume without having to reinstall my software or restore from backup. I also have some ham radio hobby related programs installed that aren't the easiest to reinstall.

I've run the System Update Readiness Tool and SFC /SCANNOW. My CBS.LOG file is attached as Part 1 and Part 2 (it exceeded the 8 MB limited so I split it in two). I only included the log file. Zipped, the CBS folder in still over 100 MB in size. Which is a bit worrisome.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Mark

 

[wben353]

Hi markinzeroland & welcome to sevenforums.

What drive is your win7 on C:\?

Please post CheckSUR.log located at: C:\Windows\Logs\CBS

If it's not there, run surt again, CheckSUR.log is temporary.

 

[markinzeroland]

wben353,

Thanks for the response. I have attached CheckSUR.log but it says no errors detected. I am considering just restoring my hard drive from a backup before the problems started and individual important files since. If it looks like solving this problem might take us down a rabbit hole, I have that other option but I'd sure like to know what caused this.

Mark

 

[wben353]

The error code 0x80071A91 translates to " Transaction support within the specified file system resource manager is not started or was shutdown due to an error.”

Like to look at your WindowsUpdate.log located at: C:\Windows

Have batch file you can run to reset the File System Resource Manager, but lets look at wu log first.

HDD issue could be source of your problem.

 

[markinzeroland]

wben353,

Attached please find my WindowsUpdate.log. It's chock full of 0x80071A91 fatal errors going back to 11/11.

Mark

 

[wben353]

Yep, your correct.
We could try many fixes, probably won't correct the issue.

Suggest Repair Install

You will need Win7x64 DVD & 25 character Windows product key

Attached will find product key on computer displayed in popup. Download, extract to desktop, run. You can click on it press CTRL + c then paste to text file. I print it to prevent typos & transposition.

Check your PM (private message)

 

[markinzeroland]

wben353,

Fortunately, bought the full retail version of Windows 7 and have the product key.

Looking at the instructions for the Repair Install, I'm thinking a restore of an older backup might be easier--if it works. Checking my update history, it looks like updates were working fine up until October 15. Either way, it's late so I'll try tomorrow night. What else does one have to do on a Friday night besides work on his computer?

Once I have Windows working again, I'll be swapping out the hard drive before it fails again and causes another crash.

Mark

 

[wben353]

If you use system restore & you have installed a program subsequent to that restore point, the program will be removed. Many times this is advantageous, being that, if you recently installed a program & issues then appear, restore to point before the issue, if the restore is successful, no more problem.

I recently had both my laptop and desktop crash with installation of a recent update. I posted info on sevenforums. Microsoft is notorious for failed system restores. Tried 16 point on laptop, 10 on desktop, all failed. Haven't trusted it for years, for this very reason, if you need it, it doesn't work. I use AOMEI backupper to do regular System Images, incremental or differential backups. Yes, I had to use System Image restore on both machines, from 2 days prior. AOMEI is FREE & has easy to use interface. Great for the novice or less experienced user.

Repair install takes a few hours 3-4 usually. Reinstalling the updates takes about the same. If you have 8gb RAM choose the first 100. If you try to install all of them you will receive out of memory error at about 165. WU uses RAM to store all the downloaded updates & verify each one for integrity before it installs them. You will have failures guaranteed, because WU randomly installs the updates. Some are perquisites, SP1 for example, which is already on disk. There are currently 200+, & about 13 optional, that appear on first check for updates after fresh or repair install. If you go the repair install, it may take hours to start downloading and installing updates. Usually 6 or less, but sometimes 24+. Microsoft recently provided a patch supposedly to rectify high CPU usage, & slow WU update procedure. You could download & install that KB manually. There is no prerequisite KB's that need installation prior.

If you do try repair install & it fails, I'm pretty sure I can help you easily correct the error. Solution to repair install was very, very difficult to locate.

With all the FATAL errors you have in your WU log, it it were me, I'd do repair install. Restore to earlier time, may still have errors that will facilitates problems down the road.
External HDDs are cheap. You can Google it. Western Digital has a My Passport 1 terabyte portable for $49. I have 2 Seagate Backup Plus 3tb & purchased on sale for about $200

 

[markinzeroland]

Wben353,

I ended up restoring from a backup about a month before the problems started--I use Acronis True Image. I know you recommended I do a repair install but the problems started at the same time one of the hard drives in my RAID 1 failed and the system BSOD'ed without a Windows shutdown so I suspect that induced the problems. After the restore, I still had the issue with Windows not detecting that McAfee was installed so I removed and re-installed it and the Action Center was happy after that.

Is there anything you want to try or logs to inspect to see if there may be another pre-existing condition that could lead to Windows Update or performance problems down the road?

Otherwise, I think I'm ready to recover the few critical files I saved to another computer on my network, do a full backup, and then install the two new hard drives.

Mark

 

[markinzeroland]

The restore from backup seems to have corrected this occurrence of the 80071A91 error code. Thanks to all that took the time to help.