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I just got a new desktop computer (Gateway FX6840-03e) It has Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (not sure what service pack, I'm new to windows 7 as of this computer so i'm not sure where to find that information). It came with a norton security that i didn't bother to activate, I uninstalled it and followed up with Norton Removal Tool. I then installed AVG Free 2011 edition
When I went to Windows Update I have the red x shield and clicking on the check for updates button gives me the error "Windows cannot check for updates because the service is not running. You may need to restart the computer." Windows update service is running in services.msc though.
The first thing I did that i had read about on the product reviews for the computer since it seemed to be a problem with a few other people that bought the computer was to disable the windows update service the go into C:\windows\SoftwareDistribution and delete everything in there and re-enable windows update service afterwords. According to the reviews this worked for most people. However the problem still persisted for me. Google searching has led me to these forums and i've gone through a few threads but haven't gotten a solution yet.
I've run the windows update troubleshooter with no luck
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Open-the-Windows-Update-troubleshooter
I ran the System File Checker tool
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833
It came back with one problem, but the log file created was blank
I ran the Fix It tool in both default and aggressive modes
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058
And in one post somebody mentioned that ATI Catylist Control Center was causing their problem so I uninstalled that with no luck (I have re-installed that)
There have been many restarts between all of that above and now i'm not sure what else to try.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Well doing some searches on the errors in the windowsupdate.log eventually led me to find that it the problem had something to do with my hard drive being large (1TB) and "Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST)" drivers needed to be updated. Once I got the driver updated my windows update started working fine. Thanks for the help that led me to the answer.
I need a little more help with a close match to this question. On my backup laptop, an old 64 bit, running Win 7: would this also apply if my hard drive is not A TB but one of the network driving on the home network is 1TB or larger?
then how is the Rapid Storage driver updated? Through the Device Manager?
Can you also react to why I can not open a browser and therefore I can not update one to a current version? Is this related tot he Rapid Storage issue?
This little laptop is useless unless unless I can at least surf the web or connect the HDMI to a TV to stream a TV or movie program. 750gb of hard drive in it is hard to give up too.
Since this machine only has 2GB of ram, I know it has limitations.
Thanks, BWWIGGINS - TigerWizard
Well doing some searches on the errors in the windowsupdate.log eventually led me to find that it the problem had something to do with my hard drive being large (1TB) and "Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST)" drivers needed to be updated. Once I got the driver updated my windows update started working fine. Thanks for the help that led me to the answer.
Same here! Thanks, installing\updateing Intel Rapid Storage driver made the windows update working again (win7starter 32bit)
I have brand new Windows 7 Professional 64 bit which wouldn't update. I'd get the green light and the bar but that was it. I let it run 24/7, after a couple days got a 8024A006 error. I rebooted and let it run another couple days and finally got 72 updates. Installed them, got nine more. Seems to be OK now.
Many thanks for these tips, MowGreen. I am running Windows 7 64-bit from a Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB Hard Drive on an 18 month old Dell Mini Tower. I had been plagued with Error Events about Windows Update failing, etc. The PC was also sluggish, despite Health Report saying the PC was running normally. I stumbled upon your suggestions, installed the Microsoft Hot Fix. The PC runs more smoothly and no Error Events so far. (The Intel link you posted didn't have a newer SATA / IRST driver than Dell offers.)
Anyone using Intel drivers and wanting to know if the Hotfix is applicable to their PC can click Start/Intel/Intel Rapid Storage Technology and determine Physical Sector Size as shown below.
