not downloading updates

[stuck]

I've booted a brand new Win 8.0 laptop, stepped through the configuration and rebooted. That seemed straightforward.

With the aid of Google, via my XP box, I discovered how to check for updates, 83, maybe 85, were found. Was able to see a list of them all and I clicked on 'Install'. That was about 30 mins ago and it's still telling me that it is downloading updates BUT the progress bar hasn't moved and there is no activity on the relevant port on my router (the laptop is cabled to the router) so I question that it is actually downloading anything.

Any suggestions?

Ken

[DaveA]

Just give it more time, go have lunch or a large glass of beer!

[stuck]

Just give it more time

I will but I'm confident it will still be in this state when I go to bed in about 5 hours time. It is NOT pulling anything down the cable and the progress bar hasn't moved at all, in fact the progress bar is equally dead, not even a hint of anything on it. It is entirely grey.

Ken

[HansV]

Can you cancel the updates, then try again? If so, select only a limited number to be installed at one time.

[viking33]

I've booted a brand new Win 8.0 laptop, stepped through the configuration and rebooted. That seemed straightforward.

With the aid of Google, via my XP box, I discovered how to check for updates, 83, maybe 85, were found. Was able to see a list of them all and I clicked on 'Install'. That was about 30 mins ago and it's still telling me that it is downloading updates BUT the progress bar hasn't moved and there is no activity on the relevant port on my router (the laptop is cabled to the router) so I question that it is actually downloading anything.

Any suggestions?

Ken

I don't put much faith in those "progress bars." Ignore them most of the time. 83 to 85 updates can be a lot of data so I hope you took DavaA's advise and let it run.If after a reasonable time, it's still dead in the water, I would cancel out and then try to do a few at a time, instead of all at once. Very frustrating to download about 75 of them ( not yet installed just downloaded ) and then have the thing freeze up on you. Then no choice but to start over again.

Edited: Hans beat me to it again!

[stuck]

I'll report back tomorrow...

Ken

[DaveA]

I just had to rebuild a system back to factory settings. There were 104 updates.
I let it run over night and it was still installing. A while later, a restart and had another 50 or so to do. It does take a while, and this was before the 8.1 manual update through the "Store".

I found that some of the 104 were installed then a restart, and then more were installed. It appears that some of the updates MUST be done before some of the others, so a restart is needed to continue. The restarts even take a while to happen as it goes through the updating up to 30% and restarts, then the rest of updating to 100%. Once the restart is completed, more of the downloaded updates will start to install in the background.

When installing the 8.1 update, the listing for the 8.0 updates are removed.

The machine is still sitting here. I have then installed Office 2007 Home and Student and there are all of those updates that are being done.

[stuck]

Reporting back tomorrow...

I pleased to say my assertions about it not doing anything were wrong. Sometime (not sure how long because I left it and got on with my life) after my last post the laptop said, "four updates installed, 79 failed, reboot now." Having noticed this message I did as it said. Once it had configured the updates and I landed back on the Start screen I was able to check for updates again (79 found) but this time when I clicked install, the progress bar almost immediately indicated it was doing something.

I looked in on the machine again as I was about to go to bed and it finished installing the updates as I did so, with the expected "reboot now" message. I did and after the initial configuring I was given a browser choice. I picked Firefox (29), which installed quickly. I didn't open FF, I went straight back to check for updates again but having clicked 'check now' I left it to it and went to bed.

This morning it was telling me there were 14 updates available and it installed them while I ate my breakfast. I rebooted again to finish the configuration of that lot then I powered it down and left for work. I will return to the check for updates loop again this evening.

Meanwhile I think my problem is that I know too much. Had I been less tech. minded I probably would have just turned the laptop on, stepped through the initial configuration and then started using it. I wouldn't have gone looking for updates and so the automatic process would have kicked in in the background and I wouldn't have known what it was doing until the next reboot, when I'd have seen the 'configuring updates' message. At which point, the automatic process would download more and again I'd be none the wiser until a reboot.

I feel old

Ken

[HansV]

It looks like you've got it licked now!

[stuck]

It looks like you've got it licked now!

I don't really like beer. Even so I'm already of the opinion that licking beer would be more fun than licking a Win 8 laptop into a state where I can hand it over to my 82 year old mother and have her stand a chance of being able to relate what she sees to what she is used to on an XP box.

Ken
PS Yes, a Win 7 setup would have been an easier transition for her but the existing XP hardware wouldn't cope with 7 so the simple route of buying a copy of 7 and installing that wasn't an option and I couldn't find a Win 7 laptop for a modest price, they were all serious hardware with a serious price. You don't need serious hardware to do email, Skype, watch iPlayer and browse digital pictures with Picasa.

[DaveA]

Sounds like the "Hurry up and wait, and wait and wait" trick did it again!