Windows Vista Home Premium - HELP Please

[haplesshacker]

My home desktop pc has entered an update loop. Updating 3 of 3, gets to 50% and then shuts down, restarts, and back into the same damn loop. Left it running for 3 hours last night and it just kept on going.

I shut it down via the power button and restarted in safe mode. Still went into the endless loop!

Can't get into desktop as all this happens prior to that.

I'm not great with computors, I don't understand BIOS etc.

We have alot of stuff on it, and don't want to restart back to factory settings and therefore lose everything.

Has anyone had experiance of this, or knows how to get around it?

I'm lucky enough to be able to use the works pc, but all pc activity at home has ceased because of this problem.

Many thanks - I'm desperate!

 

[mikeyp74]

Hi there,

I had something similiar happen a few months back with an XP Service Pack Upgrade.

It's a total nightmare and when people ask if you have backed up you want to kill them!

I would pop down to a local PC Repair guy and get them to have a look. It cost me £100 to get it fixed, but i got everything restored and some new software also, well worth the cash.

And buy a small external hard drive, back up all of your importnant files for peace of mind.

Good luck!

 

[haplesshacker]

I wondered if I could do it without coughing up and sending it away.

I also had a laptop killed by XP SP2, which is why I've got the desktop Vista computor.

 

[mikeyp74]

Yeah it was SP3 on my desktop that got it.

To be honest you could try your restart disk but best you'll get is a fresh canvas.

I'd honeslty run down with it to somewhere local and see what they think-definitely don't want to part with the cash in the current climate if avoidable.

 

[brendy]

whoa whoa whoa...whoa. Dont be paying anyone 100 quid for something that is freely available (a little knowhow, thats all)
You want to start the pc in safe mode, this prevents some of the evils that cause looping, for example windows updates, from running, failing that (obviously you have already tried this, try last known good option form the same safemode menu)
follow these instructions
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/323ef48f-7b93-4079-a48a-5c58eec904a11033.mspx

then run a system restore to a point before the pc shat itself.
click on start, programs, accessories then system tools, System Restore is in there. Its a fairly easy to follow wizard but if you need help pm me.

 

[Sam]

Hapless
When you are in the loop, Ctrl+Alt+Delete will give you the Task Manager. Click on the processes tab and then click on the CPU heading which will sort all the processes by CPU usage.
You should be able to spot the process which is causing you the problem and close it down. Or could you do a screen dump of the processes tab and show it here?

 

[brendy]

Sam in vista the updates finish rolling on before you even get the chance to use ctrl alt and del. Its a pain when it goes wrong, apart from urgent updates, I turn off automatic updates.

 

[haplesshacker]

Cntl Alt Del doesn't work on Vista when in desktop mode, why should it work in update mode? But I'll give it a try.

 

[Sam]

Sam in vista the updates finish rolling on before you even get the chance to use ctrl alt and del. Its a pain when it goes wrong, apart from urgent updates, I turn off automatic updates.

Thanks - sorry hadn't realised that - still on xp!!

 

[OldWindy]

Had a very quick look on the web and found this:

http://www.vistaheads.com/forums/microso...inual-loop.html

 

[mikeyp74]

Let us know how you get on Hapless!

I am actually quite good on PC's, great things....until they go T*ts Up!

 

[haplesshacker]

Thanks guys. I have an evening of sorting this mess out. Found more stuff about it on t'web.

I probably won't be around tonight for a chat

 

[viscount17]

you're not alone hapless, though in my case is XP sp3 that's causing the problems. it will spend ages going through the back up, get nearly all the way through the install, decide it can't complete then unistall, restart and away we go again.

tried the microsoft help but it doesn't.
it's been suggested that loading the network version might fix it but the single version doesn't unistall properly so not sure.

 

[OldWindy]

On the advice from someone who knows XP, I didn't update from SP2 to 3, instead I reinstalled XP and just got the latest updates. Registry was a mess anyway.

 

[viscount17]

windy, did you have to re-enter the registration details? that could be a problem as I have no idea where they are!

 

[SS2]

HH,

Sorry to hear about your Vista issues. I'll leave it to the system guys to advise you on what to do other than to CHUCK THE HEAP OF S**T THAT IS VISTA out the nearest window.

Microsoft: the sooner Google et al wipe out their business the better. How can a company spend $5,000,000,000 on a new operating system and get it so wrong in so many ways? User Access Control and the ludicrous virtualisation of the Program Files folder, the obfuscation of basic functions, the major lack of drivers upon launch. I could go on and on. But, hey, that's ok because we've now got the Aero graphics engine and a "Sidebar" which you can cram full of gadgets to distract you from the tasks from which you earn a living.

No wonder Bill Gates is "retiring", he knows the game will be up soon. When the revolution comes, Microsoft will be first against the wall.

OK, rant over. Feel free to put me in my place if the above is a load of cobblers.

Andy

 

[OldWindy]

windy, did you have to re-enter the registration details? that could be a problem as I have no idea where they are!

I take it you mean the serial? Yes. That's either on the CD/DVD envelope, the manual or even the PC case. Failing that you will have to endure calling MS - eek.

 

[OldWindy]

OK, rant over. Feel free to put me in my place if the above is a load of cobblers.

Nope - you're right - Vista is pants. I run it in a partition only cos there are some clients who require test results from it. Otherwise, as far a Windows is concerned, I'll stick with XP. Windows V7 is out soon(ish) and that will make it all the more pretty (useless). Linux rulz!

 

[haplesshacker]

Update.

F8 on reboot does not work, as even starting in safe mode puts the pc back into the damn loop again!

I had no recovery cd, my fault for not burning one sooner. So after alot of googling at work last night, I hashed together a solution.

Turn off machine, reboot, F11, brings up 2 options, windows repair or computor recovery (though will loose all personal data etc, again not backed up!). So I went for windows repair, which gave me a restore back date option, which is what I did. No personal data lost. I then turned off auto updates. Problem solved. Microsoft are aware of the problem, but have no fix for it!!!!!!

It's not just Vista though, my previous laptop crashed with XP SP2!!

How will not having the updates affect the computor though?

Wife's happy that I managed to sort it without loosing our nippers photos. Time to invest in a bomb proof back up drive.

 

[Sam]

Time to invest in a bomb proof back up drive.

Great to hear you are sorted. I can highly recommend Mirrorfolder (there are others very similar) which, as the name suggests, mirrors My Documents or whatever you wish, to your backup drive in real time or at frequencies of your choice. I wouldn't be without it. In fact I have 3 drives mirrored at different frequencies to protect my many thousands of photographs

1st drive is called belt
2nd drive is called braces
3rd drive is called velcro