I just recently reformatted my friends HD in her Compaq Presario C300 laptop and re-installed Windows XP PRO.  So FAR so GOOD, but when I try to update windows through the 'Windows Update' link, I'm having a problem.  The windows update page opens fine, and I click the 'express' option and it starts checking my version, etc.  Then the following error message pops up:  ""The website has encountered a problem and cannot display the page you are trying to view."  (Error number: 0x8024400A). 

This happens whether I select express or custom, and from what I've found, it may have SOMETHING to do with ActiveX(?) but I haven't been able to figure it out yet.  Any suggestions?Good afternoon

And yes IE's activex will cause an issue getting updates. Were you prompted to allow the activex so MS can put it in so you can do the MS updates?

I Know my self (as a last resort) in vista / W7 have renamed the software distribution in order to fix windows update issue. This is where MS keeps the updates that are / were done. I don't delete it just rename it. This way if it doesn't fix the update issue it can re-named back to the org name.

I hope this helps to answer your question.

Please let us know and good luck.    What Win XP Pro service pack? See this link if it pertains to your case.