When an automated update process fails without an explicit reason then one method of dealing with it is to manually uninstalled the present installed version and then install the current full version downloaded manually from the source website.
Looking at How do I uninstall Java on my Mac?, which applies to versions 7.0, 8.0 on OS X for the JRE, one needs to do the following:
Uninstall Oracle Java using the Terminal
Note: To uninstall Java, you must have Administrator privileges and execute the remove command either as root or by using the sudo.
Remove one directory and one file (a symlink), as follows:
- Click on the Finder icon located in your dock
- Click on the Utilities folder
- Double-click on the Terminal icon
In the Terminal window Copy and Paste the command below:
sudo rm -fr /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin
sudo rm -fr /Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefpane
Do not attempt to uninstall Java by removing the Java tools from
/usr/bin. This directory is part of the system software and any
changes will be reset by Apple the next time you perform an update of
the OS.
Manually download the latest version from: Java SE Downloads
Note: For normal Browser usage choose the JRE however if wanting to use the latest Java from the Command Line in a Terminal choose the JDK. Additionally if you already have the Java JDK installed I noticed that after updating from version 1.8.0_45 to 1.8.0_51 via the Java Control Panel under System Preferences that it only updated the JRE components to version1.8.0_51, not the JDK and it remained at 1.8.0_45.
So I uninstalled the JDK following the directions in Uninstalling the JDK as well as the commands from the directions listed above.
Uninstalling the JDK To uninstall the JDK, you must have Administrator privileges and execute the remove command either as root
or by using the sudo(8) tool.
Navigate to /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines and remove the
directory whose name matches the following format:*
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk<major>.<minor>.<macro[_update]>.jdk
For example, to uninstall 7u6:
% rm -rf jdk1.7.0_06.jdk
Do not attempt to uninstall Java by removing the Java tools from
/usr/bin. This directory is part of the system software and any
changes will be reset by Apple the next time you perform an update of
the OS
*The 7u4 and 7u5 releases were installed into a directory that does not follow this format. To uninstall 7u4 or 7u5, remove the 1.7.0.jdk
directory from the same location.
I then downloaded the current JDK and installed it and am now using the latest version of Java both in a Browser and the Command Line in a Terminal.