Problem checking for updates - Code 80240442 - Windows Update ran into a problem

Anonymous
2014-04-08T19:18:08+00:00

Just updated to 8.1 update 1 manually hoping that it would clear an issue I'm having with Windows update, but to no avail.  (Oh - and the error message before the Win8.1 Update 1 was 80244FFF.  I think it's the same issue, just a new number.)

I've not been able to connect to Windows Update for over a month, and nothing I've tried has managed to reset it. 

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2014-08-13T22:37:43+00:00

bizarre, my update is working after months of failure. i am not joking. BUT only automatically. if i try to check for updates manually i receive the same error code and no updates

AND i believe i have the solution for all of these problems...

i needed to restart my modem. as soon as it had restarted, automatic updates worked. i think all who are suffering from this problem should at least give this a try. just unplug your modem, wait 30 seconds then re-plug in your modem or push the restart button. it is worth a try. 

paz from mexico

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-07-04T08:28:21+00:00

    Hello Wilson,

    Thank you again for replying.

    I appreciate your time, patience and dedication towards resolving the issue.

    It seems that update is not installed properly. I would suggest you to uninstall the other update(which is the same one as you uninstalled earlier), perform clean boot and again try to install the same update.

    It is possible that any third party program or software may be causing the issue.

    Refer this article:

    How to perform a clean boot in Windows

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

    Note: After you have finished troubleshooting, follow these steps from section “How to reset the computer to start as usual after clean boot troubleshooting” to reset the computer to start as usual.

    I hope this helps.

    Thank you

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-07-03T14:34:47+00:00

    Um, I'm having exactly the opposite problem here ... I uninstalled the update but WSUS is not suggesting the update for reinstall.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-07-03T13:58:58+00:00

    Hello Wilson,

    Thank you for replying.

    You may refer to this article to understand why this happens.

    Windows Update or Microsoft Update repeatedly offers the same update

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910339

    Thank you

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-07-03T13:34:50+00:00

    I just tried this for grins, uninstalled one of the relatively unimportant system updates that I was able to install using wsusoffline and still got the error. Interestingly, windows update still lists the update I uninstalled as one of the most recent "successfully installed" updates. So if successfully installed means not present on the computer ... I guess that's OK???

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