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Apple Software Update - "Server could not be found"

Hi, hope someone can help please?


Apple Software Update suggested that I update it (Apple Software Update) to a newer version (which turns out to be Vers 2.2)


I did this and install seemed to go OK, then when Apple Software Update ran again (and every time since) it comes up with an error message: "The Apple Software Update Server could not be found. Check your internet settings and try again."


So my network / internet and everything else on my machine works fine, but for some reason the new version of the apple update app is spitting it's dummy and can't access the internet!


I've re-booted my machine, repaired the application via control panel, checked firewall settings and turned it off all together, but to no avail. Couldn't find anywhere on the apple software download site as to where I can re-download / install it either, or I would have given that a go.

Anyone have any suggestions how I can solve this? It's really annoying!


If not, anyone know how to roll it back to the previous version?


My PCs running Win 7 Professional 64 bit


Thanks in advance all


Psyman

Windows 7

Posted on Mar 15, 2016 3:19 PM

Reply
51 replies

Mar 19, 2016 8:48 PM in response to psyman2016

I keep a lot of restore points on one PC and did roll it back- the only pending updates after doing that was the SAME 2.2 software updates.


Guessing someone will tell us if there is a new version of Cloud or iTunes for Windows - in the past we generally get them on the mac first.


My boot camp Win 7 had the same problem ( all systems using airport extreme and Time-Warner for internet access )

Mar 25, 2016 4:06 AM in response to B0b

Apple software update was working ok for me on all our machines for the new version - I used it to update iTunes earlier this week and confirmed it still worked fine after the updates. BUT this morning on all our machines same error now appears. If it was working ok but now fails then surely an Apple server issue at their end . Very frustrating. I am not prepared to uninstall iTunes , reinstall and risk upsetting my library so will wait it out but as someone rightly pointed out. If they update the software then how can we do it without ASU working in the first place. Another disappointment from Apple, I sincerely hope it's server end fix they can do. They not be more aware of the problems and QA testing needs improving that's for sure


EDIT - reading someone else's post the blame must be this AKMAI server which Apple need to address. God knows why the ASU worked ok for me up until today. Although I hadn't used for a couple days so not sure when problem may of reared its head

Mar 25, 2016 7:28 AM in response to Scottyboy99

It is not necessarily a server problem. ASU is embedded within iTunes, so if the new version of iTunes also contains a new version of ASU you will install that as well. This is probably why ASU stopped working.


There is no point reinstalling iTunes if you have updated it as you will just end up putting the problem ASU back on. As I explained in my previous post you don't need to reinstall iTunes to get back to a working version of ASU - you need to extract the working one from an older version of iTunes. You can download older versions of iTunes from Apple's website.


Just remember not to update anything via the working ASU until a fix is available or you will end up with the problem ASU again.

Mar 25, 2016 9:33 AM in response to Scottyboy99

Sorry, didn't realise it was working after the iTunes update. This is a strange problem. For some people, like me, it has never worked since the ASU update, you have dropped from working to not working and presumably most people don't have a problem (or maybe they have ignored it). My main point is that there is a method for getting back to a working ASU.

Mar 25, 2016 9:43 AM in response to br1@n

YYes thank you, understood on the fix. I will certainly try that if ASU never returns to a working state - or at least isn't working when I am aware of a new iTunes version that needs downloading. But yes my issue is slightly different, it was fine and then stopped working on all three of our machines (2 Windows 10 and 1 Windows 7) today. Well today was the first time I noticed it but it was definitely working on Monday evening (uk time) and had been ever since its initial release. I'd wager it's pretty widespread for Windows users but many people don't realise or check like I have, they probably will only notice if the weekly update or whatever schedule they have fails. Or many just don't care that much. I manually check it quite a bit in case a new iTunes drops (it drives my wife mad how much I check things - lol)


Just very dissapointed with Apple, they do seem to be ignorant to issues they create and let glitches fester. That's why I think it's good if as many of us target apple support on Twitter to report it. Just maybe they will acknowledge they have screwed up

Mar 28, 2016 4:16 PM in response to MasterofApple

How galling that Apple should recommend you should update or change your operating system because its own update system is broken. My Windows Pro 7x64 computer is very up to date and no other software has any kind of internet access problem. I'm tech-pro-savvy and run a clean ship.


This is particularly upsetting because the latest iOS 9.3 upgrade bricked my iPhone 5 (and my old iPad 2 which is not so urgent to fix), and to get the phone back, the latest iTunes is required on the computer for recovery. And of course the Apple bug for updating desktop iTunes software prevented trying to unbrick the iPhone. ASU still not working on my desktop as of 10am Australian Eastern Daylight Time 29th March 2016.


I took a shortcut and it seems to work, folks. I downloaded the full iTunes package from the Apple download site and installed it (without uninstalling the existing version). That's updated iTunes to the latest version, and running ASU doesn't give an error, but that MIGHT only be because everything is up to date. At least ASU doesn't crash now and iTunes is the latest.


Now to see if I can un-brick my iPhone and iPad 2. No thanks to Apple. Please lift your game and test your systems properly before inflicting them on millions. If I can't unbrick my iPhone today I'm off to get a Samsung and it will be Goodbye Apple.

Apr 3, 2016 2:36 PM in response to psyman2016

I had the same problem with Apple Software Update 2.2. I got the error message: "The Apple Software Update server could not be found. Check your Internet settings and try again.".

I went to the Control panel -> Network and Internet -> Internet Options.

In the "Advanced" tab I scrolled down to "Security" and unchecked "Do not save encrypted pages to disk".

Now Apple Software Update 2.2 is working without problems.

Apr 5, 2016 3:49 AM in response to c0ret3x

Thank you. This 'fixes' the problem.


Some time ago you could not download a pdf statement from one of the banks (I forget which one) if this flag was set. They eventually fixed it.


As the Apple update relates to encryption I should have remembered to check that setting. However, unsetting this flag is a potential security risk and should not be required by Apple's implementation of the feature. It is ironic that a security enhancement should require you to reduce the security of your machine for it to work.

Apple Software Update - "Server could not be found"

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