XP - Windows Update site not working

[#1]

It's driving me mad. Tried yesterday and today. The page opens with some delay and I eventually get the buttons for Express or Custom. So I click the button I always use (Custom) and it (usually) starts the 'Checking for updates for your system' scan, with the green bits going across the screen. I say 'usually' because once it didn't even do that. Anyway, nothing doing; it just sits there, scrolling.
With the delay I wondered about the connections, so checked with TCP View, see attached pics. The first two are from a couple of attempts, all these connections from the start of clicking to open the site and to the scrolling part. I've tried disabling my firewall and AV, just in case, to no avail. I don't even know if any of those IP addresses are belonging to Microsoft. So then I booted into another instance of XP with a different setup and no security software at all. Still the same problem (though some different IP addresses showing, which I still don't know if they are belonging to MS either. The second two pics are from that OS, the last being if I just leave the scroller going and going till eventually all the previous connections time out and are subsequently removed. It just sits there dead.
Did a bit of searching, and ended up, with great reluctance, trying out the Microsoft Fix It tool. I didn't realise it would automatically download and install (GRRR). Anyway, it couldn't fix the problem and directed me to click another button to go to the troubleshooting pages, so resignedly, I clicked. The fix it tool errored, saying it couldn't connect to MS. What an abortive waste of time.
Anybody else experiencing this problem. I can't help thinking the problem is MS's servers. Any ideas, anyone?
EDIT: Oh hurrah. The thread finally gets posted after about ten minutes wait. PN, how many complaints about this forever ongoing issue does it take before you actually fix the forum once and for all?  Give us vBulletin, for god's sake.

[#2]

I switched on my 10 year old pentium4 desktop and booted it to XP. The Microsoft Update website worked fine. This computer is so old it's not used for anything much any more. The computer is so slow that it takes ages at 100% cpu for the update detection, spends 5 mins downloading 80MB of updates, which is by far the quickest part, then will take a long time to install the 20 updates.
All of that slowness is because that computer is very old and slow, there was nothing wrong with Microsoft's servers.

[#3]

Hi Razer, had the same problem this morning on my XP desktop and my Windows 7 laptop. Gave up in the end.
Just tried again and all seemes OK now, updated both computers with no problems.
I wonder if the server was overloaded with the large number of updates?

[#4]

I noted an XP machine's MS Update Agent was flagging the Event Log with the error message
Unable to Connect: Windows is unable to connect to the automatic updates service and therefore cannot download and install updates according to the set schedule. Windows will continue to try to establish a connection.
Then I noted another XP computer was doing the same - Both when connected to PlusNet. I have NO idea why? Maybe a network routing thing? Sometimes I experience lag and delay with certain IP ranges. I like being on 87.112.*.*.
Updates are not really an issue on those machines so updates are disabled. Anyway, after April 8th next year, "technical assistance for Windows XP will no longer be available." XP dies again next April - official.

[#5]

Check date and time on the system common problem

[#6]

Thanks for your replies. I'll test again later, when I have time. At least it's not just me. (Nothing wrong with my system date and time.)

[#7]

For anybody wanting to know: Further testing produced the same problem. Today I reluctantly enabled Automatic Updates (I'm not talking about the Automatic Updates service in Services.msc) via Security "Center" (after re-enabling that via Services.msc) and waited some time for a prompt to tell me there were updates. When I received that I selected those I wanted and waited some more considerable time before they eventually started to download. When complete, I installed them and then disabled Automatic Updates and Security "Center" again (as is my preference). Thereafter the Windows Update website functioned normally. I can only imagine that some previous update screwed up the functioning of the WU site for those with the sort of settings I have, and that a subsequent update (which I have now installed) has fixed that.

[#8]

glad you got it sorted