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Win98SE weirdness: Why won't Windows Update work??

A

AndrewR

Lifer
I have Win98SE installed on my wife's computer (because Win2K wouldn't install for some reason), but I cannot access the Windows Update page from Microsoft. I was able to beforehand, but I installed IE 6.0, which apparently has done something squirrely with either ActiveX or Java (or something like that). All that happens when I try to access the page is that it comes up blank -- Refresh just reloads a blank page.

Any ideas on how to fix this short of a reinstall? I tried to remove IE 6, but it won't give me that option. I need to do something because the system won't run The Sims (actually, Hot Date -- a Christmas present to my wife, along with diamond earring so shut up).

I hate Windows... 🙁
 
I would look first at what resolution you are running at.........what are your options available? ie. 16color, 16 bit (high color), 32 bit, 256 color? try running at 16 bit high color........secondly you may want to try and slow down your acceleration rate inside display properties......could be a combo of too much speed vs the resolution and refresh rate you are running.
 


<< I also had trouble trying to update XP >>


XP uses a different url as default update site to win98. that being said, I had no problems accessing the site just before posting this.
AndrewR, maybe doing a repair of IE may sort your present problems! if you don't know how to do that, go to add|remove programs in control panel, select IE>remove & a new dialogue box will pop up giving you the option to repair present IE or revert to previous IE configuration.
 
Just curious about not being able to install Win2K on your wife's computer. It's a shame to have to run Win9x instead <g>.

I had a problem installing Win2k on my Asus CUSL2C system because of the 815e chipset. Turned out that Win2K SP2 had the proper drivers that were needed. I then learned how to update the installation files to SP2 on another system and do a network installation.

If you have a network and Win2k running on another machine, it just involves copying the installation files from the i386 directory on your Win2k CD to the 2nd machine and then updating them to SP2. You then point your 1st machine at that directory over the network and install from there.

If you're interested, I can find the MS Knowledge Base article describing the process in detail and post a URL.
 
HotWire: It's running at 1024x768x16-bit. It seems to be IE related, not video or anything like that. I just cannot figure out why I only receive a blank screen when accessing the update page.

chaswood: The problem with Win2K was some sort of hardware issue, at least that's what it told me. I could never get past the part when it says it's "starting Windows 2000". It would crash in a DOS-like screen and tell me that there was an "Unknown Hard Error", then instructing me to reboot or contact the hardware vendor.
 
I've had a similar problem on my XP Pro computer. My ISP is bluelight.com and since a few days ago I haven't been able to connect to MSN, hotmail, or Windows Update. Tried my wife's 98J (Japanese) computer and I could only reach Windows Update.

However, I then tried the 10 hour trial version of Netzero and both the XP and 98J computers had no problem connecting to MSN, hotmail, and Windows Update.

I'm not sure why the ISP should make any difference as bluelight.com works fine for everything except Microsoft sites, and this problem only started a few days ago. I suppose you might try using a trial of Netzero or AOL to see if this enables you to use Windows Update.

 
It's wierd because I just did a reinstall of Windows XP (fresh format) and was able to go to MSN, Hotmail...etc I rebooted after installing the new MSN Messenger (it asked me to download it), and now I can't access the sites?!?! WTF?!?! I am using Netzero Platinum. I can go to other sites no problem, but not any MSN stuff?!?! Please help!!

 
It's wierd because I just did a reinstall of Windows XP (fresh format) and was able to go to MSN, Hotmail...etc I rebooted after installing the new MSN Messenger (it asked me to download it), and now I can't access the sites?!?! WTF?!?! I am using Netzero Platinum. I can go to other sites no problem, but not any MSN stuff?!?! Please help!!


EDIT: Go to this page:
Update Page It's letting me download the updates 🙂

(I found it on another thread!
 
The company that hosts the 'windows update' pages has been having DNS problems lately. All depends on which server you get routed to at the time - some work, others don't.
 
I just diwnloaded the updates and I still can't access any MSN or Hotmail...etc I just got on my father's system and it goes in with no problem (he's also running windows xp). WTF? I don't think there's a problem with the company hosting the Updates page because MS hosts their own homepage?! Damn this sucks.
 
I actually firgued out the stupid problem I was having a while back, but forgot to follow up! All it was, is the phone number I dialed into Netzero. Changed the dial-in number and it worked!?! For some reason there were two dial-in numbers that didn't let me access anything MSN. I also remember Juno and Netzero are combined now, so Juno users should change the dial-in number too!

T
 
The company that hosts the 'windows update' pages has been having DNS problems lately.

Still appears to be having problems. EDIT: Would DNS problems result in a blank page as opposed to a 404 error?
 
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