I've tracked it down on my system to a service, wuauserv, which simply runs forever, taking about

25% of the CPU, and never concludes. Disabling the service cures it but at the expense of
preventing all updates. I doubt if the problem is with the service; I think it is following faulty
instructions. This may be due to hiding updates like those to prepare for Windows 10; but
restoring all hidden updates did not cure it; "Checking for updates" continues to run endlessly. At
this point the only 'solution' seems to be disabling wuauserv and doing without future updates. The
alternative is no updates and a drained battery. I suspect this needs some higher level Microsoft
attention. I have tried nearly all of the proposed fixes short of re-installing Windows 7, and none
of them have solved the problem.

FWIW I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 and the problem appeared somewhere around April 20
without any action on my part that I am aware of. I have saved the 1.6 megabyte
WindowsUpdate.log, but it does not show any obvious problem to my untrained eyes.

Problem solved; my Windows 7 system is no longer stuck in an endless search for Windows
updates.
Before I forget how I did it, I wanted to write down the steps since this seems to be a fairly
common problem.

A Windows expert at well.com pointed me to this URL:

http://www.howtogeek.com/255435/how-to-update-windows-7-all-at-once-with-microsofts-
convenience-rollup/

It gives clear instructions on how to install all Win 7 updates up to May 16, 2016 as a Microsoft
Standalone Update package. Notice the caution about not using Microsoft's Update Catalog
website; I ran into that fatal problem earlier myself.

I followed the instructions and ran the 15 or so updates in the package. It took a while but ran
normally and at the end the system was once again able to search for updates in a finite amount of
time. I tested that, and the first try took over an hour but it ran to completion, finding updates from
after the May 16 rollup date. I ran those updates, searched again and this time it took just minutes.
Have rebooted and tested a couple more times and all systems go.

I did a couple other things like connecting an Ethernet cable to the router instead of using Wifi,
and selecting the "Just notify me" option for the first post-package search, but I think they just
helped the job run faster and weren't strictly necessary.

 Looking at the Event Viewer, I see a WindowsUpdateClient error on April 16 with error
code x80072EE2; I don't know if it is the cause and it doesn't suggest a cure to me, but
it occurred right around the time the problem started and it looks suspicious. Here is an
excerpt from the log for that time:
 2016-04-16 06:11:05:146 1140 12fc PT +++++++++++ PT:
Synchronizing server updates +++++++++++
2016-04-16 06:11:05:146 1140 12fc PT + ServiceId =
{7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D}, Server URL =
https://fe2.update.microsoft.com/v6/ClientWebService/client.asmx

2016-04-16 06:31:24:765 1140 12fc Misc WARNING: Send

failed with hr = 80072ee2.
2016-04-16 06:31:24:765 1140 12fc Misc WARNING: SendRequest
failed with hr = 80072ee2. Proxy List used: <(null)> Bypass List used : <(null)> Auth
Schemes used : <>
2016-04-16 06:31:24:765 1140 12fc Misc FATAL: SOAP/WinHttp
- SendRequest: SendRequestUsingProxy failed. error 0x80072ee2
2016-04-16 06:31:24:765 1140 12fc PT + Last proxy
send request failed with hr = 0x80072EE2, HTTP status code = 0
2016-04-16 06:31:24:765 1140 12fc PT + Caller provided
credentials = No
2016-04-16 06:31:24:765 1140 12fc PT + Impersonate
flags = 0

 Windows Update error 80072ee2:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-sg/windows/windows-update-error-
80072ee2#1TC=windows-7

Thanks! Though if that error code simply means "network congestion, try again later" it is
probably not the reason why the wuauserv service goes into a loop. I don't believe the
automatic update process had any problems before about that time, or any changes to the
system that could have caused the present failure. I'd like to get the Windows 7 updater
working again, but short of reinstalling Windows from scratch I haven't seen any solutions
that work. And even that doesn't get to the cause, and is no guarantee it won't happen again.

 searched online for a long time and found several users who had the similar issue as
yours, they gave the advice may help you, please refer to the link:
Windows endless update loop after December updates:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-endless-update-loop-
after-december-updates/ba2900f0-6501-4544-aef5-8ce7817e9b86