0x80096004 IE says update is from "unknown publisher"

[AG Wolf]

I have a fresh install of XP on a machine I'm fixing up. THe very first thing
I tried to do with it was install all critical updates. Automatic updates
returned nothign in its list, and when browsing to the Windows Update site,
nothing seems ot work. I've allowed ActiveX control, I'm under my
administrator account, I've re-registered softpub.dll, wintrust.dll,
initpki.dll, etc etc etc... nothing seems to work.

When I brought the machine to a friend's house to show him the error (he's
an IT guy), it worked on my first shot. His only guess was that my
router/modem might be corrupting the data transfer. Afterward, I tried
Windows Update on the other two computers back in my own house, and they just
sit on the "Checking for the latest updates for your computer" page
indefinitely.

I then tried a different modem & router for my DSL and received the same
error about the invalid signature of the windows update package. I'm at a
loss as to what to do... I don't think it would be our internet hardware
since I tried a different device. I don't understand how it might be our
internet connection in general, because I USED to do windows updates without
error in the past. If anyone can offer some kind of insight, it would be
much appreciated.

 

[C]

I do have the same issue on a fresh windows install.