Windows XP Pro Update Not Working

Stildawn

New Member
Hello All.

My mate computer has Windows XP Pro installed,

For ages he ran it without doing the automatic updates from windows etc, but then AVG said that he had to install AVG 8 but that required SP2.

So he went to windows update and did the usual steps to update. Everything was installing fine, until he did update to SP3.....

Then things went wrong, firstly when you turn the computer on it goes "updates available for download" in the system tray, but when you click to download and install, it comes back a bit later saying "unable to install updates"

This happens everytime you try, also if you go to the windows update website and try from there the same thing happens??

Further more, he's graphics card driver was updating but never completed due to the above, and now in display properties under "advanced" is says "display = (default monitor) on" instead of "plug n play" or anything, I have never seen "(default monitor) on" before, even when you do a fresh install, it still says "plug n play".

Now we have downloaded the driver from ATI (Radeaon 9600) and when you go to install that it comes up with "cannot find required software/hardware" im thinking this directly relates to the "(default monitor) on" thing.

Anyway.... Any ideas on what has happened?

Cheers
 
Right off the latest updates from ATI are not for use on an older AGP card like the 9600. A 3rd party site like guru3d.com or omegadrivers.net usually still see some of the old catalyst updates like the Cat. 5.11-5.13 still onhand. The entire 9xxx Radeon line is no longer supported by ATI/AMD.

The one thing to try now would going into the add/remove programs and check the show all updates option and manually remove some of those or use the system restore feature to go back before the update attempt was made. Once those are off you can still download SP2 as a separate item to see that go on first before another attempt with SP3 is made.

The two pages for the 266mb downloadable SP2 are seen at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en with an alternate at http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Windows-XP-SP2-RTM.shtml

SP3 final is also available at softpedia as a 316mb download. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Signatures-Updates/Windows-XP-SP3.shtml

Once SP2 is on and running good retry the update site and use the express not custom option since the older drivers for the video card have to be found at one of the two 3rd party sites mentioned earlier. Anything newer will cause problems being for the newer models cards that followed the 9xxx line.
 
Ok cool, cheers thanks for the fast reply lol, Ill try that tonight when I get home. And let you know how I get on.

Cheers
 
I think something too new for the hardwares went on and is now causing the problem like the latest Catalyst updates would be for the X1xxx and even the current 2xxx series cards still supported. If Windows was just reinstalled the installer 3.1 tool from MS has to go on first once Windows is activated to then be followed by the load of updates.

But try the reversal with a restore point to save time if you have a valid restore point available. Once back at where you started go for SP2 first to see that on and working since that's a requirement at this point for just about anything. If the system is an HP or Dell prebuild SP3 can see problems at times if the manufacturer is providing a one for all image. The separate install of SP3 is still optional while that supposedly sees some 1,000 fixes needed for XP.
 
I have no idea how that advertising got into my signature. I don't have an avatar. The only data in the signature was Optimizations.biz

The signature is now empty. Aside from my wife, most people say that I'm well behaved. Is everything OK now?
 
Ok guys update.

Now went to the system restore lol although sadly in only keeps a couple of days and monday was the earliest, and thats when we did the update. So I went to add remove programs and uninstalled SP3

Now all hell broke loose.... lol.

Um when it restarted it loaded up to desktop then in the system tray it came up with the "installing new hardware" thing like usual when theres a hardware change, then...... BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!! lol.

It always BSOD after about a minute or two on desktop, now I ran it in safe mode then it said the usual "windows finished installing new hardware. please restart" which I did and that got us back to square one. Lol its running but no graphics etc as above.

So I tried the old ATI drivers as you said, lol get this when it went to install it said "setup was unable to complete install, try to setup your display adapter with a standard VGA driver before running setup"

Tried findind "plug n play" driver, but even that didnt work.

Lol anymore ideas??? Haha im nearing the full reformatt lol.
 
Good news!

If you want, I can re-post the original content and you can delete my original post. I don't know where those ads came from, but it would be interesting to know.
 
The ATI>support>catalyst number>driver folder when opened up should have an AtiCimUn.exe file seen there. That's the catalyst uninstaller to see all software and drivers removed before trying to install an older version better suited for the card. You want all traces of the updated drivers gone first since those are for newer models. The newer blocks the old in that sense being the newer version.

I did find the Catalyst 5.11 great for the 9600 vpu chip on that model as well as on the 9550 model seeing the same chip at http://downloads.guru3d.com/Catalyst-5.11-Win2000%7CXP%7CMCE-download-1253.html That's for 2000/XP and not Vista there.

For a change they also had the 5.11b, 5.12, 5.13beta, 5.13, and 5.14 while at other times only the 5.13 was seen there. The 5.11 was the best for gaming on the older AGP models however.
 
The ATI>support>catalyst number>driver folder when opened up should have an AtiCimUn.exe file seen there

Sorry mate run through that again? Where would I find this? Is this like in C:\Program files\ etc? or is it in the driver download exe?

Cheers
 
Ok look at the root of C for an ATI folder seen there. It won't be seen under the Programs Files directory but a separate folder of it's own created by the Catalyst installer. The driver sub folder would be ATI>support>Catalyst number(like 8.2 for example)>driver.

With multiple attempts you may see more then one folder for each version of the catalyst. The cut away of a screen shot here will show to look for the removal file while browsing into the sub folder where all files including the setup are seen.

 
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