Windows Update cannot correctly check for updates, because the service is not running

This is not so much of a question as a post to provide others with a solution and an easier breadcrumb trail to follow than I had to.

System: Dell Inspiron 1545 running Windows 7 64Bit

Recent system change:
250GB seagate swirling the drain was replaced with a Western Digital Black 500GB. A clean installation was performed from the Recovery partition (which was intact) on the hard drive

Issue:
Following a clean installation, when I attempted to run Windows Update, it errored out with the message "Windows Update cannot correctly check for updates, because the service is not running.  You may need to restart your computer".  Windows Update was already running, BITS was already running - there should be no issues.  Microsoft suggested resetting Windows Update (Microsoft KB971058) by either manually making changes or by running Microsoft's Fixit utility 50202. Nope - no change. 

Next step - a lot of times a strange OS issue can be resolved by updating to the latest service pack.  Since the Windows Update was currently out of action, the service pack was manually downloaded.  Atttempting to run the service pack resulted in the message "Catastrophic Failure E_UNEXPECTED(ox80000ffff).  Microsoft suggested (KB947366) running the Readiness Tool which resulted in "Installer encounted an error: 0xc8000247".  

The final answer came on the Microsoft Technet forum.  One of the forum members, Humprey, identified that updating the Intel Rapid Storage Technology on Hewlett Packard machines resolved the issue.  Once I found this solution, I found a Microsoft Knowledge Base article (KB982018) that refers to this issue.  It appears that an updated driver is needed whenever a change is made in hard drive size somewhere above the 250GB HD size - my 500GB qualified.

When I took a look on Dells site for the drivers for SATA Drives, Intel Driver, Matrix Storage Manager - the drivers were not current; however the drivers on Intel's site were.   To find the drivers, do a Google search on "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" and look for their download center.  Download and run the updated drivers and suddenly Service Packs and Updates will start working.  Amazing how much an old drivers can raise hob with a system.