Older Laptop Will Not Run Windows Updates ("Checking For Updates" hangs)

On a ten year old laptop with a 1.6 Ghz Mobile Intel processor and 1.25 GB of RAM, Windows Vista x86 (32 bit) or Windows 7 sp1 x86 (32 bit) install fine, and will also install the first Windows Update updated agent (requires a reboot).  But after that the Windows Updates just hangs on "Checking For Updates" for hours. Windows has been reinstalled from scratch several times (both Windows Vista and Windows 7 Pro sp1), and the Windows Update Mr Fix IT utility has also been run. Finally, the SoftwareDistribution folder has been deleted and allowed to recreate. But for some reason this older laptop will not run Windows Updates. It meets the minimum requirements for Windows Vista or Windows 7 (at least a 1 Ghz processor and at least 1 GB of RAM), has all of the drivers installed, and as mentioned any version of a 32 bit Windows OS will install fine.  Linux will also install and update fine on this laptop, so it does not appear to he hardware related.  Is there anything that can be modified or reconfigured that will allow Windows Updates to run and complete on this older but otherwise fine laptop  ?  TIA ...