My problem was caused by the Synaptics touchpad driver on the laptop. I used
an external mouse to stop that process in Task Manager and afterwards run the
update from the separate downloaded file and it fixed the problem.

"agl806" wrote:

> I have the exact same problem. Windows2000 SP4 with all updates except
> Security Update for DirectX 9 for Windows 2000 (KB904706) that freezes when
> it starts installing. Did you get yours fixed? If you did I would appreciate
> if you can share it with me.
>
>
> "ghanwani@gmail.com" wrote:
>
> >
> > I don't have this problem. My machine doesn't have a touchpad
> > and I don't see process mentioned below. The task manager shows
> > the CPU is 98% idle.
> >
> > Today I tried manually downloading the update. In this case, too,
> > the installation hangs. It hangs almost at the beginning while
> > "Checking for necessary space."
> >
> > Would appreciate any other suggestions to help get around this.
> >
> > Anoop
> >
> > DG wrote:
> > > There appears to be a problem with the Synpatics touchpad driver on many
> > > laptops. My install hangs with high CPU use ~70% by the SynTPenh.exe
> > > driver. Others have noted the same behavior. Here's how I got the update
> > > to work.
> > >
> > > Download the update directly from the microsoft site here:
> > >
> > > http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../ms05-050.mspx
> > >
> > > I ran the update, had it stall as usual, then went to task manager, verifed
> > > that the above mentioned driver was using up lots of CPU time, then ended
> > > the process. The update then continued to proceed on its own without a
> > > hitch.
> > >
> > > A followup check of windows update verifies that the install went correctly
> > > and requires no more updates.
> > >
> > >
> > > <ghanwani@gmail.com> wrote in message
> > > news:1129959569.054274.164670@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> > > > MS Update has failed to install the following Win 2K update
> > > > 2 times - Security Update for DirectX 9 for Windows 2000
> > > > (KB904706).
> > > >
> > > > The error code that I get is 0x800706BE. It downloads and
> > > > initializes the updates fine, but when it starts installing,
> > > > it freezes halfway through the process and ultimately gives up.
> > > > This has happened on two separate occasions.
> > > >
> > > > FWIW, I'm running Windows 2000 SP4 and all of the critical
> > > > updates. I also have Norton Antivirus 2005. I've never had a
> > > > problem with the updates before.
> > > >
> > > > Would appreciate any help with dealing with this issue.
> >
> >