Gaming Computer Reboots when it tries to update. Please help!

[ACWWFAN]

Hey guys, hope everone's day is going well. I am running Windows Vista Home Basic. Last night I turned off my computer and it didn't ask to update or anything. It turned off by itself. I tried booting it today, and it gets past the Dell loading screen and then the vista backround shows up and says, updating 3 of 3 0% please wait. Then it sits there for a couple of minutes and restarts. I can't get to the desktop or anything and I don't know how to stop it from trying to update or how to get around it. It even gave me the option to boot into safe mode and it still does the same thing when I tried safe mode. I actually booted with the networking and drivers or whatever just for the record. Can anyone help me keep it from updating or get me to the homescreen and tell me what to do from there? Thanks for any help .

 

[impizkit]

Vista is the problem.

 

[DinohScene]

I have a Windows installation that I hardly ever update.
Still working perfectly and virus free since the launch of Win 7.

Best for you is to upgrade to 7 or do a clean install.

 

[ACWWFAN]

Is that going to wipe everything on my HD? Sorry for sounding like a n00b, this isn't exactly my area of expertise. I'm guessing there's no way to back the stuff up is there? Also I have never had to install a new OS and being that I can't get to the desktop, how would I do that?

Btw, I have the disc so that's not the problem.

 

[DinohScene]

Is that going to wipe everything on my HD? Sorry for sounding like a n00b, this isn't exactly my area of expertise. I'm guessing there's no way to back the stuff up is there? Also I have never had to install a new OS and being that I can't get to the desktop, how would I do that?

Btw, I have the disc so that's not the problem.

Upgrading doesn't delete everything.
Clean install does.

Just plug your HDD into another computer and backup the files manually.(or an external enclosure and back up your files)
Then format it and put it back inside your desktop.
Run the Windows DVD and you're good to go.
(just let your desktop boot off of the DVD drive for installation)

 

[ACWWFAN]

What good is plugging the hard drive into another computer going to do if I can't access the desktop? I don't see why plugging it into another computer would change anything? It's not a hardware problem. I just had it boot from the CD and it is working on it now...

 

[Dialga.The.Maste]

What good is plugging the hard drive into another computer going to do if I can't access the desktop? I don't see why plugging it into another computer would change anything? It's not a hardware problem. I just had it boot from the CD and it is working on it now...

You need to backup your important data and reinstall windows afterwards and since you can't access your desktop, take out your hard drive and back it up using another computer that still works. Its not like the other computer can't use its own windows installation to access your files.

 

[Ryupower]

boot the windows install with the windows installed disc repair feature

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358

 

[DarkStriker]

What good is plugging the hard drive into another computer going to do if I can't access the desktop? I don't see why plugging it into another computer would change anything? It's not a hardware problem. I just had it boot from the CD and it is working on it now...

What good it is? As far as i know, your "desktop" is actually a folder inside your HD. You plug it in another computer so that computer can make a backup of your files while you do a clean install. Upgrading is bullshit. If it fucks up, then your pretty much screwed and clean install is the way to go. Wipe your hdd and then your off with no issues on installing it.
The option you got left: Install windows again.

 

[Rydian]

Hey guys, how about trying to fix the fucking problem?

ACWWFAN, go into safe mode with networking, and go to C:\Windows\Minidump\ to find the three most recent files. Upload them to mediafire.com and give us the links.

 

[Originality]

The desktop is usually located at C:\Users\insertname\Desktop. The Users folder is often encrypted to prevent people accessing your files when putting the HDD in another computer.

Upgrading does work. I've done it around 30 times now, and it's worked every time. All it does is upgrade NT 4.0 files to 4.1 (iirc, the numbers aren't important anyway) and doesn't change any of your desktop or document files.

OP, you should explain what you mean by "had it boot from the CD and it is working on it now" - is it working normally (problem solved) or is it actually completing the update?

For those less knowledgable about Vista, a known problem it has is not checking whether or not an update was successfully downloaded or not. A corrupt update (or an improper shutdown pending an update) can cause this problem, where it tries to update and either hangs indefinitely, or just gets into a reset loop. IIRC, the best method to get out of this loop is to hold F8 to bring up the boot loader where you can get around the attempted update. There should be an option to cancel/clear a failed update. Then you just download the update again and, providing nothing goes wrong, it'll run properly.

Off topic, typing all of that on the virtual keyboard of an iPad at 1AM is annoying. I hope this helps - good night.

 

[Jan1tor]

Fairly simple. Don't let it boot normally. Boot it into safe mode by holding the F8 key while booting. Once booted up do a system restore to a time before the update. Let it restore and then it will ask to reboot. You should be fine now.

 

[Dialga.The.Maste]

@OP What do you mean by "I actually booted with the networking and drivers or whatever just for the record.", were you able to log in and access your files? If you were, just cancel the updates from there. If not, repair using the disk or reinstall.

 

[Originality]

@Dialga, that would be Safe Mode with networking drivers loaded. It gives you the Internet whilst in Safe Mode.