Afetr a frustrating time trying the various fixes on this page the following
sequence worked for me. I had to repair windows after hardware problems
disrupted my installation, with frequent auto-resets and lots of lost work.
New install has now been running OK for a week, and all updates have been
installed.
Unistall Windows Installer 3.0 or 3.1 from <Control Panel><Add or Remove
Programs>
Download WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe to local folder (e.g c:\Download\)
from Windows KnowledgeBase
Download WindowsXP-KB927891-v3-x86-ENU.exe to same folder
Reboot to Safe Mode (F8)
Delete folder c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution
Reboot normally
Click <Start> <Run>
Enter c:\Download\WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe /wuforce <OK>
Reboot
Run WindowsXP-KB927891-v3-x86-ENU.exe from c:\Download\
Reboot
Go to Windows Update site
Windows Installer3.1 will install automatically
Reboot
Go to Windows Update site and install updates
Good luck!
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