Computer consantly searching for updates (Solved)

[Pghpooh]

HI
Daughter gave me her 7 year old Toshiba laptop.
She said it was running extremely slow.
I powered it up and at first it was ok, then it slows down tremendously.
I opened the task manager and the cpu is running 100%.
After checking a few things I found that the last time updates were installed was 9 months ago. !@#$%
After going on line and trying several different fixes suggested, I just said !@@# it and formatted the drive and re-installed the original o/s. I found the disk's I made and used them to take the machine back to the "out of the box" state.
Machine runs fast and steady.
BUT!!!!!! The o/s is old win 7 and needs to be upgraded to win 7 sp1.
When I run "check for updates " it finds a few and installs them.
I found the KB location in Microsoft to upgrade to sp1 and it went well.
Machine ran fine. Still needed to have IE upgraded to IE 10 or 11.
Here is where the trouble starts.
I ran the check for updates and,,,,,,,,,,,,,, get the !@#$% message
"Download agent needs to be installed to download updates" (not the exact message but close)
I run the check for updates and the !@#$% agent downloads and installs on its own!!!
Now,,, when I check for updates,,, the machine is slooooooow again,,, cpu is running 100%.
No other software is installed,,, just the o/s and I added chrome browser and firefox..
It ran slow before I added the browsers.
I am lost and completely out of patience and the next step is to hit the laptop with a sledgehammer!! LOL
The machine has a celeron cpu with 250 gig drive and 4 gig of ram.
Once fixed it will be used to write school reports by the grand kids.

Any suggestions and hints????

 

[Iron Woode]

the solution is simple:

when you restart the laptop make sure install updates automatically is checked under Windows Update. Instead of clicking search for updates just let the laptop either sit there or have it do other business and after a few hours it should start downloading updates on its own.

just update IE to version 11 by using google to find the Microsoft page to download and install IE11 for Win 7.

 

[VirtualLarry]

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/fix-for-windows-7-update.2471653/

Some of those solutions worked for me, with a Win7 64-bit Home Premium with SP1-U included install disc.

Should take at most a few hours to install updates, rather than 4-8 hours, or even longer.

For a fresh install, get the SP1 standalone update from MS, the April 2016 Servicing Stack Update, the Convenience Rollup (from MS download Catalog site), and that follow-up patch.

 

[vailr]

Consider replacing the spinning hard drive with an SSD, might also be a good idea.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Consider replacing the spinning hard drive with an SSD, might also be a good idea.

Yeah, that too...!

If it has 4GB RAM, then it can't be too old, and deserves an SSD.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

It can take an old computer a *very* long time to install updates, on a setup with minimal resources (platter, 4GB of ram, and craptastic laptop CPU is minimal). Turn off sleep mode, plug it in, and let it sit overnight. If you care enough to spend money on it, get a SSD and another 4GB of ram if it'll fit.

 

[Pghpooh]

Quick reply. Going for eye surgery and will be off here for a few days.
Pc was set to install updates already. I just changed the time to one a few hours after I restarted the machine. Machine ran for 12 plus hours checking for updates and nothing downloads.
I like the idea of using a ssd but,, cost and old pc???? If it were my machine I would go for a ssd. But,,, daughter not sure if she wants to spend the money.

 

[TeeJay1952]

Chromebook, The heck with Windows, Virus, Backup, The Geek Squad. Fingerpointing and no real answers after failure.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Chromebook, The heck with Windows, Virus, Backup, The Geek Squad. Fingerpointing and no real answers after failure.

There's always CloudReady OS, ChromeOS version for existing laptops and desktops.

https://www.neverware.com/#cloudready-introduction

 

[DrDoug]

In my work I update a lot of Win 7 computers that only have WU run periodically (SOHO workstations/servers) and I finally got sick and tired of the incessant grinding in Windows Update. I tried every trick there is and the only thing that has worked so far was to manually download the security updates from Feb '16 through (now) Oct '16 plus the .NET updates and shove them in manually. After manually updating, WU can be run and will detect the rest of the updates available (longest time was about two hours, 45 minutes typical).

For faster manual install, kill the WU service between update packages... each package detects and presents dialog almost immediately. I need to script this crap but too busy...lol

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
Finally can see a little better after eye treatment.
Laptop still causing trouble.
I followed suggestions above.
Still will not update.
CPU runs at 100%.
I think problems caused by letting machine doing auto updates.
Did a system restore taking it back to when I did a reinstall of the o/s.
Blocked all auto updates, etc.
System fast, and cpu running at less then 5% all the time.
Still need to do sp1 update. Is there a download that will let me do all the sp1 updates at one time? I want to download the sp1 to a dvd or usb and install the sp1 that way.

 

[Iron Woode]

HI
Finally can see a little better after eye treatment.
Laptop still causing trouble.
I followed suggestions above.
Still will not update.
CPU runs at 100%.
I think problems caused by letting machine doing auto updates.
Did a system restore taking it back to when I did a reinstall of the o/s.
Blocked all auto updates, etc.
System fast, and cpu running at less then 5% all the time.
Still need to do sp1 update. Is there a download that will let me do all the sp1 updates at one time? I want to download the sp1 to a dvd or usb and install the sp1 that way.

assuming win 7 64 bit, SP1 is 900 MB. You can download it from Microsoft:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842

file needed is windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe

for 32 bit - windows6.1-KB976932-X86.exe

 

[redzo]

There is an issue with Windows 7 SP1 auto-update after clean install from disk dating at least 10 months ago. I gets stuck forever in a "checking for updates" loop.

I directly blame MS for this, since it started suddenly and there was no mod regarding the install disk. The install kit is the same.

There are many so called solutions out there but the fact is that it is quite hard to tell if the auto-update started working properly by its own or because of that fix.

 

[fralexandr]

Other than leaving windows update running for 18+ hours, multiple times after sp1, manually installing one of the kb updates seems to have fixed it for me. I don't remember which one exactly, might be kb3153199. It didn't normally show up in windows update as an optional/required update.

I had issues with my su4100 system constantly hogging cpu searching for updates every week (couldn't watch netflix without frame loss and audio desync) before seeing a suggestion to manually install one of the updates. Seems to have fixed it.

edit: appears to have been kb3172605

 

[Zahid Iqbal]

I thing your old Toshiba laptop is not compatible with latest updates for Windows 7. You should replace your old laptop with new one. Other solution is to permanently turn off the windows update option. Don't install updates. In my opinion, it will be running smoothly without any problem. Best of luck

 

[Pghpooh]

assuming win 7 64 bit, SP1 is 900 MB. You can download it from Microsoft:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842

file needed is windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe

for 32 bit - windows6.1-KB976932-X86.exe

Downloaded and installed the x64 file.
Machine so far is ok,, cpu usage under 3% and so on.

After I did the system recovery taking it back to out of the box, I set windows update to NEVER CHECK FOR UPDATES and to make sure nothing updated. I never set up the wifi. I don't want to let the machine do any updates until I am satisfied I have the latest there is before I let things go on thier own.

Now, with sp1 installed,,, can I jump up to the roll up updates and install the complete package? I'll download and save the roll up using another pc and save to a usb drive.
Will the following work??
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3179573

 

[Pghpooh]

Finally,,, solved the problem.
Trashed the !@# unit and bought a new one!!! LOLOLOL
Seriously,,, I walked away from the unit for a while. With fresh eyes and mind I found a post over in the o/s thread. I downloaded and installed and ran the "fix" and,,, it was off and running. Downloaded 250 updates the first time, 60 plus the second time,,, and it goes on and on. Installed more software, more updates downloaded, etc. A few hours of downloading and installing updates and all is fine. Once the machine was up and running I just let things go naturally.
Making a set of recovery disks now and looking thru my "junk" pile for a old hdd drive and will clone the unit to the "spare" drive and file everything away here for future use.
Machine is in my opinion a little slow (being 7 plus years old it's allowed to be slow LOL) If I could find a cheap ssd I'd clone the hhd to the ssd and install it. But,,,,,,,,,,,,, that's another time.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Iron Woode]

Finally,,, solved the problem.
Trashed the !@# unit and bought a new one!!! LOLOLOL
Seriously,,, I walked away from the unit for a while. With fresh eyes and mind I found a post over in the o/s thread. I downloaded and installed and ran the "fix" and,,, it was off and running. Downloaded 250 updates the first time, 60 plus the second time,,, and it goes on and on. Installed more software, more updates downloaded, etc. A few hours of downloading and installing updates and all is fine. Once the machine was up and running I just let things go naturally.
Making a set of recovery disks now and looking thru my "junk" pile for a old hdd drive and will clone the unit to the "spare" drive and file everything away here for future use.
Machine is in my opinion a little slow (being 7 plus years old it's allowed to be slow LOL) If I could find a cheap ssd I'd clone the hhd to the ssd and install it. But,,,,,,,,,,,,, that's another time.
Thanks for the help!

there is one more option you may want to consider:

http://www.backup-utility.com/okr-free.html

one key recovery creates a restore partition on your hdd. press f11 on boot up and it activates the restore function. might come in handy in case something goes wrong.