Can't install about 40 updates...windows 7 professional x64

Hi everybody,
I've been struggling with this update problem since about April or May of this year. Various updates fail with the error code 8E5E03FA, 80070490 and C80003FA (including the SP1 beta and release candidate). I've tried all of the solutions and troubleshooting steps I've been able to find. I've tried the Update Component Reset fix-it (in both standard and aggressive modes), an in-place upgrade, a full re-install, disabling services and restarting in safe mode, starting without other services running, installing the latest version of the System Readiness tool, and other things I can't think of. Both running Windows Update and installing the updates manually give the same results. Even trying to Check For Updates often gives the error codes above.
I've also run the sfc scan and looked through the event log. I've attached both results. The event log has some errors that correspond with failed updates. The event errors read (something like) "Catalog Database (1184) Catalog Database: The database page read from
the file "C:\Windows\system32\CatRoot2\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\catdb"
at offset 200704 (0x0000000000031000) (database page 48 (0x30)) for
4096 (0x00001000) bytes failed verification due to a page checksum
mismatch. The expected checksum was [4d4f32b08f6f8c61] and the actual
checksum was [35613561ea19d57c]. The read operation will fail with
error -1018 (0xfffffc06). If this condition persists then please
restore the database from a previous backup. This problem is likely
due to faulty hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for
further assistance diagnosing the problem."

I'm not sure what the hardware problem could be that wouldn't also be causing other problems. As the problem has been happening for a while, I did replace the main hard drive and optical drive with new ones and the problem persisted. The other remaining hardware is my motherboard an ASUS p5n7a-vm (with onboard video and audio), my wireless adapter (a dlink WDA-1320), and the processor and ram.

Anyway, that's all of the information I can think of. Oh, and no, I don't have a virus, malware, or a rootkit. I've run countless scans, and have been running anti-virus from the first time I installed Windows 7.

So if anyone out there has any ideas on what I can try, I would love some ideas (especially ideas that don't involve reinstalling Windows). Thanks so much!

(The updates that are failing to install are listed below)

-matthaus


Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2360131)
Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows 7 x64-based Systems (KB2284742)
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 Security Update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems (KB979916)
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 Update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems (KB982526)
Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile for Windows 7 x64-based Systems (KB982670)
Security Update for .NET Framework 3.5.1 on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems (KB983590)
Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems (KB2416471)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2079403)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2207566)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2281679)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2296011)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2347290)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2378111)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2387149)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB972270)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB974571)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB975467)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB975560)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB978601)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB979309)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB979687)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB979688)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB980218)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB981852)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB981957)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB982132)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB982214)
Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB982665)
Update for Rights Management Services Client for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB979099)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2158563)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2249857)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2345886)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2388210)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB971033)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB974431)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB976972)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB977074)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB978637)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB979538)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB980408)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB982110)

Lunarpancake said:

remove the updates reboot and re-download them.

Thanks for the suggestion. I should have mentioned that I have tried this with no success.

Anak said:

Jacee said:

ESENT error ...see this article Answer : ESENT Event ID 474 Database page cache error

Windows error... Also see MowGreen's answer here Windows 7 64 Bit Update Error Code 8E5E03FE

Very good reading. +1

Thanks for both suggestions. The ESENT link applied to file replication services which I don't have running, so unfortunately those steps didn't work for me, as I don't have the files to move.

I also tried the other link's suggestions, but still got the same error message when I tried to download updates.

I've attached the WindowsUpdate.log if that's of any help.

Thanks again.
-matthaus

Hopalong X said:

Re Read
You already tried this but did you run it three times. If so go to Repair install below.
This is a registry repair and scanner. Restores to default settings. You will need to run this up to three times until it reports no errors.
It makes one pass so it will get to a point a window will open saying it can't repair. It did it just can't fix it all so you run it again.
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker
----------------------------------------------------------

This is instructions for a Repair install.
You willl NOT loose any files or pictures etc. It repairs/resets registry etc. More effective than the SFC /scannow.
Repair Install

You have tried most if not all of the update repairs to no avail. You could spend several more days trying to sort everything out to no avail. That is why I suggested the more drastic to some Repair install.

Thanks much for the suggestions. I tried running sfc /scannow several times as you suggested, but it never was able to repair the corrupted files. When I looked through the log file, I didn't see any files listed to try to replace, so I'm not sure what sfc was finding that was corrupted.

I also tried the repair installation, but it got through most of the upgrade installation (to the transferring settings part I think) and then it gave me the error message: "Setup can't continue. Your computer will now restart, and your previous version of Windows will be restored."

I know I have been able to run the upgrade using another windows 7 pro 64 dvd before, but I was concerned that it may have been an issue with that install dvd, so I was using another one that I have. It's strange to me that one dvd will fail to do the upgrade while another will succeed.

I also tried to use esentutl (with /mh and /p and /d) to recover/repair the update database from the command prompt, but it only seems able to identify that the database is corrupted, not ever able to repair the corruption. The database just gets replaced with the also corrupt shadow copy and the problem persists.

Thanks again for the speedy replies and the suggestions.

-matthaus