Yes, I have been checking all of the logs and yes indeed all of the times I have said they have failed, there has been evidence of these failures in the logs.
The only thing I can think of that occurred around the same time I stopped getting auto updates was I installed a game, KOTOR. Now since this is not an internet based game I can't really see a clear cause and effect relationship, however maybe there is... but I would find it horrifying that this could completely whack something like this.
I am generally on a wifi connection so occasionally I have initial connectivity problems due to session negotiation, etc. However I have played with the "AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=" setting and had that set up to 10 minutes and still no go.
To me, the baffling thing is that it works 100% of the time when I do a manual update and works none of the time when it tries to do it on it's own, whether it's at start up or after the requisite time to update. So unless it's some freaky obscure firewall thing, I am stumped.
Tech, you said you use Comodo Firewall... could you post your relevant firewall config to see if mine looks similar?
Once again, thanks for all your help!
Cheers!