I've always found the below articles to help in sorting update issues:
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH95790
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH106034
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH105924
http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO59193
As a start though, is there any discernable difference between those that work and those that don't? Is it something like the 64bit machines successfully update their VDefs and the 32bit ones fail? The above articles talk about clearing possible corrupt definitions and the like, which may be of help...