Solved Windows Defender "ERROR: Signature Update failed with hr=800106BA" & "Windows Update cannot currently check for updates because the service is not running" errors in Acer Aspire X5900 pc with Windows 7 Home Premium x64 OS (Rev: 1.0)

After login to the Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Operating system (OS) of the Acer Aspire X5900 pc [Intel i5-650, 3.20 GHz, Western Digital 1 TB SATA Hardisk (3 Gb/s interface, 32 MB buffer), 4 GB RAM], Windows 7 login will hang/freeze and did not shown the desktop environment. I restarted the pc and press the [F8] key repeatly in order to boot into the Windows 7 Safe Mode environment. Then, I issued the below chkdsk command to check the hardisk:

# chkdsk c: /f

At "CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...", chkdsk found errors and try to recover some of the system .dll files. However, at certain particular sectors number, chkdsk will hang for more than 45 minutes without any further process. Hence, the Windows 7 hang problem was caused by the faulty hardisk where some of the system files are corrupted and bad sectors are presented in the hardisk.

After backup all the users data in the Western Digital 1 TB SATA Hardisk, I deleted all the partitions inside the hardisk and the format failed error as shown below confirmed that the hardisk was faulty:

# format f: /fs:ntfs
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Enter current volume label for drive F: WD_1TB

WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK
DRIVE F: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with Format (Y/N)? y
Verifying 953867M
Creating file system structures.
The first NTFS boot sector is unwriteable.
All NTFS boot sectors are unwriteable.  Cannot continue.
Format failed. 


For Acer Aspire X5900 pc, if you just want to restore only the Windows 7 OS partition from the Acer Hidden Recovery Partition (Unknown partition, 13.67 GB) that contains the original factory installation image, you can press [ALT] [F10] upon power on to run the Acer eRecovery Management. Kindly select the "Restore system to factory default" option to restore your Windows 7 OS partition. Please backup your data before trying the Acer eRecovery Management.



I replaced the faulty Western Digital 1 TB SATA hardisk with the Seagate Barracuda 1 TB SATA3 7200 rpm hardisk (6 Gb/s interface, 64 MB buffer). I restored the Windows 7 Home Premium x64 OS from my earlier Acronis True Image Home backup copy but did not included the Acer Hidden Recovery Partition in the Seagate hardisk.

When I try to use the Windows Update to check for Windows update patches, it will show a “Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer” error. Restart the Acer Aspire X5900 pc does not solve the problem because it will still shown the same Windows Update error.

Both the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) and Windows Update (wuauserv) services are already running (both the services startup type were set as "Automatic (Delayed Start)" in the Computer Management -> Services and Applications -> Services).

I had also checked the Windows 7 Home Premium x64 OS registry under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\BITS,
and all the BITS and sharedAccess services registries were already existed.


In my previous blog on 'Solved "Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer" error in Windows 7 Professional SP1 OS', the “Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer” error is solved by updating the Windows Defender signature file. However, the updating of the Windows Defender signature file in Acer Aspire X5900 pc failed with an "ERROR: Signature Update failed with hr=800106BA" despite that the Windows Defender service (WinDefend) was already started:

# cd %programfiles%\windows defender

# mpcmdrun -signatureupdate 
Signature update started . . .
ERROR: Signature Update failed with hr=800106BA


Solution

The main difference between the spoilt Western Digital 1 TB SATA Hardisk (3 Gb/s interface, 32 MB buffer) and the Seagate Barracuda 1 TB SATA3 hardisk (6 Gb/s interface, 64 MB buffer) is the SATA interface. Under the "Device Manager" -> "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers", the Acer Aspire X5900 pc has an "Intel 5 Series or 3400 Series SATA AHCI Controller".

To solve the Windows Defender "ERROR: Signature Update failed with hr=800106BA", we need to install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST) RAID Driver v12.5.0.1066 or higher version. The Intel RST v12.5 is designed to provide functionality for the following Storage Controllers:

• Intel 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
• Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
• Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
• Intel 5 Series/3400 Series SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
• Intel X79 Express Chipset

After installing the Intel RST by running the SetupRST.exe and restart the pc after the installation, the “Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer” and the Windows Defender "ERROR: Signature Update failed with hr=800106BA" errors automatically disappeared.


Reference

[1] Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST) RAID Driver v12.5.0.1066 Read Me

[2] Acer Support Frequently Asked Questions