Saturday, December 31, 2011

Windows Update on Windows 7 failing at Configuring Updates

The Problem
So I had a strange problem. I have over the last couple of months had a problem where occasionally my computer when shutting down would have between 11-24 updates(it rose from the lower to higher) but when turning it back on then it would fail while configuring updates. If you are not aware of when this step is it happens before the computer finishes loading up after a reboot or shutdown. So since it failed it would revert changes and none of the updates got installed. This was on a Windows 7 64bit Professional machine. I ignored it since it wasn't causing me any problems(oddly I find I don't fix problems on my computers as fast as I do others) but it started getting really annoying delaying me shutting it down/starting up. This was annoying because it is a laptop that gets used heavily.

I was getting no error number and they failed whether I installed them while in windows or while shutting down. So I continued to troubleshoot. I even ran the System Readiness Update Tool from this previous post where I used it for previous such problems, which can be found here. It showed I had a clean bill of health.

The Solution
After this I then tried installing just a couple(4 updates) at a time. This worked. So I then continued to install the updates a couple at a time without mixing types(ie: security, critical, and so on). I was through this process able to install all my updates. It appears from this that one or more of the updates caused a problem when installed with some of the other updates. Sadly I don't know which they were. None the less installing updates in bite sized amounts may fix your issue too if you are facing a similar problem. You may even try one at a time. Good Luck and Happy New Year.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Phone Lock Samsung Rugby 2 - Steps to Unlock

The Problem
I recently had an issue where one of our mobile phones was returned to me with a phone lock on it. I tried a couple of simple passwords and had no luck.

So after working with Samsung & ATT they gave me the following process to reset the phones to factory default, therefore letting you get around the password.

The Solution

NOTE : This will wipe everything on your phone, that is not on your SD card. Thanks J Gardner. I should had this here earlier.
  • Turn off the phone. 
  • Take off the back cover and remove the battery & SIM Card
  • Put the battery back in and turn on the phone
  • When you get the message "SIM card is missing" (or something like that) dial the following number:
  • *2767*3855#
  • It will reset the phone but wait till it is done and turns back on.
  • Turn off the phone by using the power button(Don't kill by using the battery)
  • Put the sum card back in and put the phone back together
  • Turn it back on
It should now work and start up without a password.

NOTE: It was explained to me this would only work on the GSM version of this phone the A847. Not sure if that is the case or not.