Windows update problem

Windows 7: the “Action Center” keeps telling me “Windows could not check for updates automatically.” So I tell Windows to check for updates, and I’m instructed to reboot first. And we start in a vicious circle: Check for updates. Can’t check for updates

until you reboot, around and around we go, so many times I’ve lost count.

I checked, and changed the time and date and frequency that windows was supposed to check, thinking somehow that arrangement had gotten lost. I rebooted after changing everything back to check daily at at 1:00 am. Since I never let the laptop go into sleep

mode, that should have solved the problem. It did NOT

So I hunted around and found “Fix problems with windows update”. I launched Microsoft FixIt, and it said “Troubleshooting,” then “resolving problems,” it stopped and restarted some services [too fast to write down] and then I got a window saying “Potential

Windows update Database error detected 0x800800005-Fixed, Windows Update components must be repaired-Fixed, and Problem with Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)- Fixed.” I have run this repair sequence I believe 6 times, and I still get the same

“Windows Could Not Check for Updates.”

In addition, Windows Update says “Most Recent check for Updates-Never, Updates were installed-Never, and You receive updates for windows and other products from Microsoft Update.” But the list of installed updates is still available, the latest being just

today. In addition, there were over 200, but only one between Feb 14 and March 7. I KNOW there were updates installed then, but they seem to have disappeared from the list.

I have tried restoring to an earlier date, and that sequence fails every time.

Synopsis: It seems to be downloading updates and recording them, but it doesn’t know it’s done that. The result is that I need to reboot every day—not the end of the world.

Suggestions?

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