Windows Update Error 0x800704 and 8024a000

Hi everyone. I don't post here often but I hope you can give me some advice.

I don't know when this problem occurred but it seems that my Surface 2 was recently unable to receive updates, both manually and automatic.

If I went to Windows Update in the desktop environment it said: Latest search for updates: Never. Updates installed: Never. If I tried to search manually it would try to search for a while and then tell me that there were no available updates and that the system is configured to install updates automatically.

If I went to Windows Troubleshooting through the Control Panel I did find a button which said "Solve problems with Windows Update". I ran it, it asked me to run as administrator, I did that and I got this notification which said:

"We have found a potential error in the Windows Update database 0x80070490." It shows me it's solved.

"Windows Update components need repair". That's solved as well. However, it changed nothing.

I also got the following error code on one occasion: 8024a000

I think this problem might have been resolved by some cmd code (very informative I know...) that I copied from Microsoft Support. At least it doesn't give me error codes any more and it found a update for Windows Defender. I experience a side-effect from this mess, though. The list of installed updates only show the single update that I managed to install a couple of minutes ago. If I navigate to the menu which allows me to remove updates they are all there, though.

I have had 2 other errors that I believe are a result of missing updates: My wifi connection is sometimes unstable and needs to re-connect and the Surface 2 sometimes reboots when it wakes up from sleep. I don't know if these problems are still pressing and whether Windows Update was broken for a while or just a couple of hours.

I'm actually not quite sure what I'm asking here. I don't know what happened and I don't really know how I solved it or if it's even solved. I guess I hope to see a comment on what happened and what I should look out for as I'm worried Windows Update is not all right yet. :/

Thank you!

Hi,

After reading the description you've provided it sounds like you have already solved the problem.

Below is the exact description provided by Microsoft about error 0x8024a000.

"0x8024A000 WU_E_AU_NOSERVICE Automatic Updates was unable to service incoming requests."

What this means is an update was downloaded but was corrupted. By renaming the SoftwareDistribution folder it should have cleared the offending update.

ectech said:

Hi,

After reading the description you've provided it sounds like you have already solved the problem.

Below is the exact description provided by Microsoft about error 0x8024a000.

"0x8024A000 WU_E_AU_NOSERVICE Automatic Updates was unable to service incoming requests."

What this means is an update was downloaded but was corrupted. By renaming the SoftwareDistribution folder it should have cleared the offending update.

Click to expand...

I hoped so but it would seem sadly that is not the case...

I did a factory reset on the tablet this morning to solve this once and for all, to go back to the state where I unpacked it and do it all over to make sure everything was fresh and all right. But for some reason the issues prevailed and to be honest I don't understand why.

The updating issues are still there and I get different error codes when I try different methods of solving the issues (mostly from Microsoft support websites). The latest error code I got was this: 80080008

After the reset it said it found 60 updates. Installing them gave me the above mentioned (80080008) error code. In desperation I have attempted a re-boot and now it says installing Update 14 of 27. I don't know if this will brick it now and I don't know what is going on with the last 33 updates that aren't mentioned on this screen.

I don't really know what I should do about this either. Perhaps I could somehow contact Microsoft as they are the closest to the core of this kind of issues. On the other hand I could take it to the store where they will sing me a song of how it will be repaired in Sweden. But there is nothing to repair, only a broken registry entry somewhere (as far as I've understood) and when going back to factory defaults doesn't solve this software issue I don't know what will.

I should mention it gave me 2 options regarding the reset (I don't remember the exact descriptions): One that would go back to factory settings and one that was a bit more drastic. I don't know exactly what it would do but it said it could take hours and that it would cleanse the drive. I took the smaller option as I feared that the second option would wipe the drive leaving no OS or anything.

I'm lost. :-(

Edit:
This is very much a roller coaster ride. The latest development is that the updates download and install (apparently), but if I go to the list of installed updates it tells me a lot of them were not correctly installed due to error code 80080008.

I ran a diagnostics tool from Microsoft support which gave me 3 errors:

1. There was a problem during installation of the latest updates. Not solved.
2. Service registration is missing or corrupt. Solved.
3. Windows Update error 0x80070057(2014-03-02-T-12_49_51). Solved.

I have tried this tool more than once and it hasn't helped.

It would seem some of the problems are due to file Wups2.dll registered incorrectly.

I'm attempting the fixes as described here:
System File Checker: Run sfc /scannow & Analyze its logs in Windows 7 | 8
FIX : Error 0x80080008 While Updating Windows Apps In Windows 8