When I decided to get an update to my computer last fall, I bit the bullet and purchased a Windows machine. Up until last year I was always a Mac person. Mainly because they were easy to maintain and troubleshoot. Truthfully I don't find Macs really any better than Windows software wise except for the previously mentioned maintenance factors.
My new little Windows laptop ran very nicely for a few months. Then it started to get flaky. It wasn't slowing down, it just seemed to get little error issues with certain programs. I noticed that it continually tried to download Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and failed every time. The computer kept giving me a multitude of error number instructions to fix the windows update. None of them worked. It got to the point where I just started ignoring the request to update to SP1.
Today, I finally took a deep breath and studied the issue. Mind you, this would never have been the case with a Mac. But I was determined to solve my problem.
I went through the instructions given by Windows itself. I ran the built-in troubleshooting program and a hotfix from the site. That didn't work. I followed the instructions to reboot into clean mode. That didn't solve the problem.
Finally, finally I found instructions from another user on the Windows tech site.
It turned out my WMI was corrupted. Whatever that meant and this was what prevented my updates. If you are having these kind of problems, try the solution in the above link.
A few notes:
1 - Just to be safe, make sure you do this while in clean boot mode. That will factor out any other software interference problems.
2 - The tests mentioned in the instructions will most likely give you an a-okay answer. Ignore that, and keep going with the fix-it instructions.
3- You'll know if everything is good to go when you don't receive any errors from the wbemtest step.
Download SP1, it will take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to install and it will require several restarts. Not to mention you will receive a number of security updates to the new system software.
All the flaky issues I have been having with my computer were cleared up when I finally updated to SP1. But I hope I don't have to go through any further song and dance routines for every software update this machine needs.Labels: computers, technology, troubleshooting, Windows