Adobe Updater shows no products

Question

I too ran into the problem recently where Adobe Updater failed because it kept saying it was "resuming a download". I understand this was fixed by the Updater 5.1.1 update... but now I have a new problem. The stations that I have updated to 5.1.1 now have no products (or almost no products) listed that can be checked for updates. All these Macs are running OS X 10.5.5 and CS3. On my Mac, the only product listed is Acrobat Pro, but I'm running CS3 Design Pro. I just setup a brand-new MacBook with CS3 Design Standard, and it has absolutely no products listed. A third iMac I recently setup (the one I had the "resuming a download" problem had products listed, but as soon as I installed the Acrobat Pro 8.1.3 update manually, it got the entire product list zapped (that station is running CS3 Web Professional).
So why does my product list keep getting zapped, and is there a way to get Updater to recreate its list of installed products?

Answer 1

We are in a similar situation to Charles Bailey (and thanks for your input so far Charles).
Rob: "Furthermore, except in the case of security issues, Adobe stops updating applications as soon as new versions come out."
This statement is incorrect. Adobe released an Indesign CS2 was updated AFTER CS3 shipped.
Like Charles, we are a business with multiple workstations running CS3 (35 to be exact).
* We don't drop install the software on every machine as soon as it is released - we don't even do that with updates, hence the reason to run the auto-updater to install multiple updates at the same time unattended when required.
* We TEST a new version of CS to make sure it runs okay and is (backwards) compatible with any workflows/outside clients' requirements BEFORE we roll it out.
* We don't upgrade all the licenses instantly the moment a new version comes out - why should we pay Adobe almost £10000+ for CS4 when clearly they have broken the previous version? We've bought a couple of licences of CS4 and are currently testing it in our environment.
So, because Adobe broke the automatic updater (and incidentally Neil we've now reproduced this on 10.4 so it IS a specific problem with the Adobe Acrobat 8.1.3 manual update NOT Lepoard) we have to track EVERY CS3 update, version and order so that when necessary we can update our 35 workstations. In addition we have to do these updates manually at each indidividual workstation all because Adobe broke something.
So to the people who have "tried" to help thanks, but so far nothing you have suggested has worked and the "solutions" you have given us are simply not solutions to this problem or are unacceptable. We appreciate you are not Adobe employees, that you cannot offer a "fix" and you taking the effort to respond.
Basically, as no one on these forums is able to help or provide a solution we clearly have to contact Adobe technical support (as some of you have suggested). I (as I am sure was Charles) was hoping to avoid having do this because I certainly don't relish the prospect of the following over the next few days:
* Hours on hold with Adobe Tech Support to try and resolve this problem
* Trying to get to speak to someone who ACTUALLY speaks English properly/natively
* Being told to "remove" and then "reinstall" Adobe Creative Suite (and then install ALL the updates manually) to "see if that works/helps"
* Wasting many, many man hours doing all of the above
This will be my last post in this thread (in fact, probably ever on these forums) unless it is to thank someone that provides an actual solution to this specific problem.