failed vista service pack updates

[dmb60614]

i am having a lot of trouble installing service pack 2 for vista business (32 bit). several months ago, windows update notified me that sp2 was available. i downloaded it and installed it. right away i noticed there was something wrong. it indicated it was fully installed after about 10 seconds and it should have taken a lot longer than that to install. since i was at work and busy with other things, i just kind of ignored it. however, every day, windows update notifies me that sp2 is available to download. windows tells me the update is 6MB and that the update was successfully installed. however, it clearly isnt installing sp2 as it installs in mere seconds, the file size is wrong and there were no restarts during the process. i checked the update history and it shows sp2 as successfully installed about 30 different times. i tried to uninstall the sp2 updates but the option to uninstall was not available.

i downloaded sp2 file (about 350MB) from microsoft and attempted to install it. i got an error message indicating sp2 could not be installed because sp1 was not installed. i thought sp1 was already installed. when i check the system details it indicates that sp1 was installed. however, when i viewed the update history i discovered that sp1 installation was listed as failed with the error code 800706BE. i downloaded sp1 from microsoft and attempted to install this. however, i got an error message indicating that sp1 was already installed.

anyone have any ideas on what to try next?

 

[ImDonly1]

I think when you get an error installing SP2 it gives you links to a MS site listing solutions like clearing some files and some possible hotfixes.

Otherwise, I don't know I would probably re-install the whole OS. But thats just me.

 

[dmb60614]

I think when you get an error installing SP2 it gives you links to a MS site listing solutions like clearing some files and some possible hotfixes.

Otherwise, I don't know I would probably re-install the whole OS. But thats just me.

in this case it is either telling me that sp2 has successfully installed or that i need to install sp1. i havent seen any other directions.

if this was on my home computer i probably would have re-installed the OS already. its not something i particularly want to do at work.

 

[ImDonly1]

Check these links http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948465
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947366/
On the second link look at the System readiness tool. Maybe that will help some.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I tried 3 times since SP1 was released to install it on my SO's computer. Each time it took > 4 hours to reach 100% only to fail and revert immediately afterwards. I finally convinced her to let me reformat it, and then found that Dell actually shipped the full Vista install disc(!). Spent the better part of the day yesterday to install Vista, SP1, SP2, drivers, programs, and copy files.

What a pain in the ass (compared to Linux), and what is the purpose of UAC when a password is not required? At least it's finally done and she'll finally stop complaining about things that have long been fixed.