Can't install Win7 SP1 for x64 (KB976932)

[On Windows 7 Professional x64] (error codes 80070570, 80240016, 800736CC, etc., etc.)

Initially it failed to install, and then my system started crashing quite often and the file system became corrupted. I finally fixed the file system, backed up to a restore point prior to the failed install, and tried to install again. It kept crashing and/or failing first during the download and then after that finally got downloaded after several crashes it failed during the installation phase with a Windows Update error 800736CC. I then followed the instructions and deleted the files in the two windows folders and tried again, and it failed again during the download. After that I ran the little "fix" program that was recommended (Fixit50202.msi) and tried again. And, of course, it failed again.

So is this "update" just bug infested or something? It won't download right, won't install right, and even making the attempt seems to have messed up my system so that it no longer works properly.

What do I do at this point? Roll back to a restore point two months ago? At this point I'm thinking this silly update has just about fouled things up past the point of no return. And it looks like lots of people are in the same boat? What am I supposed to do now?

Good grief. Apparently it's not only bug infested, requires a PhD to install, but it resets the activation so you have to go through that rigmarole all over again. Next time, I'm getting a Mac. This is just unacceptable. I'm never building another Windows machine. I just updated to the latest version of Snow Leopard on my little MacBook and it took about 10 minutes and was completely hassle-free.

Jacee said:

First of all, have you downloaded and installed all the important updates before trying to get SP1?

Yes, every last one.

Second, unplug any USB devices (printer, external drives, etc) and clean out all temporary files.

What Anti-virus are you running? I found that those with a 'webguard' do cause a problem.

Every attempt to install SP1 corrupts my file system, so I'm now afraid to even try it. I could unplug the USB devices and turn of virus protection, but I've tried turning off virus protection before and that didn't help. I can't imagine that the only problem is that I have some usb drives connected.

After the last attempt I had to check and repair the file system, which took *hours* and then I ran the install disk to repair the startup sequence which had apparently also been corrupted.

This "update" is full of bugs. It's hard to believe they graduated it from beta with all of these problems. It's like taking a hand grenade to my system. Currently if the "repair" from the Windows install disk didn't work my only option is to back up to an Acronis backup I did 4 months ago, and start over. Hopefully SP1 hasn't actually damaged my hardware. But I'm not trying it again until these bugs have been worked out, and they've repaired this version of SP1 with something a little more ready for prime time.

Also, I have another computer with Win7P-64 that hasn't been updated to SP1 yet, and I'm thinking about just turning update off on that computer. It's my media server, and I just don't want the hassle since it's working fine.

OK, I've backed up my system after doing all the repairs and decided to try again. I had done the deletions in the two folders in Windows. I think turned the system off, removed all the USB devices (3) and then turned off the Virus protection (Trend Micro) and am trying it again.

[It's now an hour later.]

It appears to have finally updated to SP1.

From now on I'm doing full backups of the system disk more often. Hopefully this update will also stop my system from randomly crashing.

Nope, I no sooner tried to update Java than it crashed like a ton of bricks. I tried uninstalling Java 6 Update 24 in Safe Mode but it said the installer wasn't installed correctly. This must have been a casualty created during the failed upgrades to SP1, and no telling what else was affected. Here's the data from the crash:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 1a
BCP1: 0000000000041790
BCP2: FFFFFA8000E17980
BCP3: 000000000000FFFF
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\032511-28158-01.dmp
C:\Users\My Name\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-48344-0.sysdata.xml

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C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt

The dmp file is indecipherable jibberish and the sysdata.xml file doesn't seem to exist.

Jacee said:

Okay, let's try it this way ...

• Then from your desktop double-click on jre-6u24-windows-i586-p.exe to install the newest version.

I was able to delete the old versions after getting out of safe mode, and then installed Update24. That hasn't solved the problem of unexpected crashes, though. The screen just suddenly goes blank and reboots. Again, I think the failed attempts to install SP1 have corrupted something in my installation, and I've got no idea what it is or how to fix it. I've already tried scanning and repairing the file structure, Restore, and ran Repair from the installation disk. I'm very irritated that the so-called "update" caused these problems. MS has again decided to use the customer as part of their debugging process. I'm pretty disgusted.