I seem to have a love/hate relationship with my computer. mostly it's good though. sometimes I encounter problems, learn how to solve them and then impress my friends by fixing their computers when they have the same problems. the perks of search engines
but then you find those really annoying, but thankfully rare, problems with no easily googled solution. the ones that make you seriously consider setting fire to your computer while attacking with a hammer in one hand and a chainsaw in the other (there is no kill like overkill!)

today I noticed that there are multiple windows updates patiently waiting to be downloaded and installed. so I start them going and head into the kitchen to set some food on fire (no hammers or chainsaws though. but there was a cheese knife) and proceed to eat while watching tv. then I check the progress and am rather surprised to find that it's still "0kb total, 0% complete". some running of Windows Update troubleshooter, System File Checker tool, multiple restarts, borrowing a chainsaw from the Eddisons and some gasoline from Zak McKraken and still no success. it is now 3:10am and my resolve to get the damn thing working before I go to bed is rather weaker than it was two hours ago. also I don't think I'm ambidextrous enough to dual wield a hammer and a chainsaw not to mention that attempting to use a chainsaw with one hand is probably suicidally dangerous (because the rest of the plan was completely not insanely dangerous at all)
stock solutions (restart pc, threaten pc with violence, plead with pc, attempt to bribe pc with being allowed to run high-end show-offy graphics games instead of jigidi, threaten pc with buying a mac (as if I could afford one), threaten pc with switching to linux (as if most of my games would work!), defragging window partition, banging head against wall, repeating all the above numerous times) have all failed
google has failed
ignoring it, doing something else and trying again later has failed
writing a long, somewhat silly, venting post about it so that it will then decide to prove me wrong by suddenly working has... [edit in result here] edit: surprise, surprise, also failed

I'm not actually expecting anyone to chip in with a solution (though it would be a nice surprise), more just venting about how annoying it is and throwing some silly humour into the story in order to turn stress into bitter, self deprecatory amusement

for the record, this is using Windows 7 and happens when trying to install any update whether "important" or "optional"

8 years ago*

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what's your preferred solution to non-functional technology?

View Results
google a solution
pay somebody else to fix it
con somebody else into fixing it for free
sell it and buy a replacement
destroy it and buy a replacement
you know that bit in Office Space with the photocopier?
satanic ritual
santanic ritual (like satanic but with christmas decorations instead of blood and stuff)
build a super-intelligent AI to fix it and hope it remembers me fondly when it inevitably rises up against humanity and enslaves us all
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8 years ago
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but... but... my backlog of games I'll probably never get around to playing anyway that won't work properly even with emulation!

8 years ago
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Dual boot! The best of both worlds!

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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The problem is this, you are writing all this in Google search, you need shorten the question.

8 years ago
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This post forced me to choose between "build a super-intelligent AI" and doing a "Santa-nic ritual," 0/10.

8 years ago
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if in doubt build a super intelligent AI that is programmed to perform santa-nic rituals

8 years ago
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Best of both worlds

8 years ago
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No Windows updates seem more like a solution than a problem to me.

Also, why isn't learn to live with it an option?

8 years ago
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most of them are useless, but the security updates can sometimes be handy
besides, if I'm too passive my pc will think it can walk all over me and next thing it'll be expecting me to work for it instead of vice versa

8 years ago
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That was my thought. Especially if you're using Windows 10, in which case you should find out what happened, then patent it and get people to pay you to stop their updates.

8 years ago
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Stop using windows first.

8 years ago
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I stopped using them for entering and leaving rooms and now use doors instead, but it hasn't made any difference

8 years ago
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I found this for Windows 7. Not sure which version of Windows you are on, but it might be worth a shot?

Click the start button and type in services.msc
Stop the Windows Update Service.
Delete the contents of the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder
Start the Windows Update Service.
Try Windows Update again.

8 years ago
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no luck, but thanks anyway

8 years ago
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Windows? Hell no

I had to wait 12 hours to search for updates to upgrade to win10

Took me 3 days to find this out because microsoft servers are crap.

8 years ago
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Sacrifice a lamb to Bill Gates.
Because you have an altar devoted to him, don't you?
If you don't, just make one.

8 years ago
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Serious answer will come later, my brain is currently on vacation...

8 years ago
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I don't think that the Bill Gates waterless toilet is out yet, but perhaps at one point I'll have that altar for his worship.

8 years ago
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Check to see if one of your CPU's is at full utilization while the update appears to be hung. If it is just leave it, sometimes it can take hours for windows update to determine the proper install order and will appear to have hung.

8 years ago
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CPU usage is the same when attempting update as when idle. even tried doing just the smallest update on it's own (37KB) and it still stays at 0 forever

8 years ago
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You could try downloading a KB update manually and see if it installs. Would narrow the problem down a bit.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Luckily that doesn't count as polygamy.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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As long as it's consensual... :)

8 years ago
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Be thankful that the days of tweaking autoexec.bat and config.sys because the game that you just bought and desperately want to play needs 580k base memory and EMS (I'm looking at you, Frontier: Elite II) are gone. Not that that's much of a comfort when you're having problems today, I'll admit.

But if nothing else it's the price that we have to pay sometimes in order to experience the tremendous joy that we get from using our computers.

8 years ago
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and having to look for the bit of paper with the right sound card settings noted on it! and remembering which games to run in Windows and which in DOS...

8 years ago
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google -> destroy it and buy a replacement

8 years ago
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Do you use some peer blocking software (PeerGuardian or PeerBlock)? Because, I guess you know, Microsoft are using peer-to-peer updates in Windows 10.

8 years ago
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this is in Windows 7, but no peer blocking active

8 years ago
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yeah found that in my initial search, none of the solutions helped unfortunately

8 years ago
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I'm sorry I was not able to help, but only lost your time rayvio. I hope someone could help you.

8 years ago
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I actually had this problem while upgrading to Windows 10, and for the life of mine I can't seem to remember how to fix it. Only step i remember was Googling "WIndows update stuck 0", and downloading some fixer software.

8 years ago
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Sometimes you hate technology, sometimes technology hates you.

And other than blindly trying every tip and trick you find on Google (not literally blindly... you can put that blindfold away), "proper" troubleshooting involves going through event logs and of course WindowsUpdate.log itself.

You will either find a specific error code (yay! something else you can google again), or find out if the updates are stuck on a specific file - which you can then delete, or just get rid of the whole SoftwareDistribution folder.

Well, sorry I can't be of much help, but I wish you good luck with that chainsaw!

8 years ago
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I have had that myself a couple of times.

Remove any external usb harddrive attached to your pc and maybe even your printer.
There is also a manual update (can't remember which) you can download first which also helped me a couple of times.
If then, then mostly it's just alot of updates piling up and taking some time.

Maybe it was this. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3138612

8 years ago*
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Windows 7's update system has always been shitty, but now that Microsoft is trying to shove Windows 10 onto us, I'm sure they're trying to make it even shittier, to compell us into upgrading.
Last time I was able to successfully install updates using Windows Update was September 2015. (Yes, 10, freaking, months ago!)
I even had trouble installing updates I manually downloaded from Microsoft's site, so go figure...

8 years ago
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Technical explanation: Windows Update first searches Microsoft's database for every single update that's been released, and compare it to what your Windows version have installed.
So, the more updates get released, the slower the process become.

Have you ever tried installing updates on a newly installed Windows XP? Don't do it at home, kids! Trust me!
Just searching for updates took at least 12 hours (or possibly more, I lost the count), while installing them took another 3 hours. Starting from the Service Pack 3. If you ever need to use Windows XP again, search for premade update packs to use with nLite.

8 years ago
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I thought the Office Space scene was with a printer? (I could be wrong.)

8 years ago
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