I am currently using 'Vista' Home Basic' I have my Updates set to "Download and notify but do not install" but for some unknown reason yesterday I realised that my computer was shutting down by itself ? ....When I went in to investigate the screen was now showing "Configuring Update 3 of 3 0% " this was a shock as I had not instigated an Install ,in fact I was not aware that there were any Updates available . Anyway the update screen kept shutting down my Computer and restarting it it did not move past the 0% mark and continued like that for an hour , When I realised there was a problem I attempted to use safe mode , but as I am not very clever in this area and it was not very clear as to what I should be doing , I tried to find some info on the problem . So far I have found out that one of the ways to fix it is to insert the 'Vista Install Disc" and restart the Computer , now thats all good and well if you have one all I have are two DVD Recovery discs, now one would think that to be enough , but upon inserting the First disc and restarting my computer as directed I found that the disc would start to load and then stop, so that blew that . I read some more and tried to find out how to use the Recovery Partition from 'Safe Mode' but got lost again ! Now if anyone has had this problem and they have solved it please let me know if I even knew how to Format I may even stoop to Loading XP in as a last resort , or as some clever dick said , just pop out and buy a new copy of Windows 7 , and it suddenly dawned on me , perhaps thats what 'Microsoft' want us all to do ?...maybe they have sabotaged the Update
so we all rush out and but Win 7 Upgrade or whatever , in the meantime I will use smoke signals and semaphore . Cheers smallships.
Hi Smallships,
The first thing I would do is boot into safe mode and start Windows Update. Look for a link that says "Installed Updates" or "Update History". If you can see an update or updates that were installed right before this started you may be in luck. Write down the KB numbers associated with those updates.
Start Programs and Features (or Add/Remove Programs or whatever they call it) and be sure that "Show installed updates" or something to that affect is checked. If you see entries with KB numbers that match those you found (and wrote down) right click the entry and select "Uninstall". Do that for all KB numbers you wrote down (assuming there are more than one). If you are asked to restart do not do so until you have uninstalled all updates you noted.
After you have completed them all restart the computer normally. If that fixes it let us know. If not we can try a System Restore, or some wacky way of getting you some media.
Thanks Mate, I will not bore you with the details of all I have tried so far , but let tell you it will open at safe mode but not in safe mode , it always reverts back to the update [0%] screen. If you try to repair it asks for the Install disc , which I have not got as the OS Vista Basic came installed , I do have the two DVD recovery discs but for some reason they will not load ! I am however using 'Acronis' to attempt to restore to an earlier Back up tib. from about June of this year, I have back up file discs as well , so if I ever get back to Ground zero it should be a breeze , but having said that ,at the moment its a quiet whisper of air !
Thanks again for your interest ,any more help would be invaluable .....Cheers Smallships.
WELL FINALLY I MANAGED TO FIND A tib.THAT WORKED AND "ACRONIS" CAME THRU WITH FLYING COLOURS, SO MY SYSTEM IS BACK TO MAY OF THIS CURRENT YEAR.
I RESTORED SOME BADLY NEEDED FILES FROM "MOZY" AND ALL IS SORT OF WELL !..... BUT !!!!!! I NOW FIND THAT MY DESKTOP ICONS ARE MISSING....I CANNOT SEND SHORTCUTS TO THE DESK AND I CANNOT DRAG ICONS, SHORTCUTS, JPG'S OR ANYTHING ELSE ONTO IT , THEY SIMPLY VANISH , OF COURSE THEY DO TURN UP IN THE 'DESKTOP' FOLDER, BUT THEY REFUSE TO APPEAR ON THE SCREEN AS SUCH ? THIS IS QUITE NERVE WRACKING AND A HELL OF AN INCONVENIENCE, AND JUST AS I THOUGHT THINGS WERE COMING TOGETHER ? ANY HELP ON THE MATTER PLEASE !.....CHEERS smallships
PS: I have got "show Icons" ticked in the View Box.
HELLO AGAIN !...IN REGARD TO THE MISSING ICONS, SHORTCUT SAGA , THE PROBLEM WAS SOLVED BY ACCIDENT AS IT TURNS OUT ANOTHER USER HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM WITH THE 'VIEW' MENU IT WAS SHOWING THE "ALIGN TO GRID" AND "AUTO ARRANGE" OPTIONS GRAYED OUT ,AND AS HE HAD THE
"SHOW DESKTOP ICONS" OPTION TICKED HE COULD NOT UNDERSTAND WHY !.......HE STARTED BY CLICKING THE "SHOW DESKTOP ICONS" ON AND OFF AND SUDDENLY REALISED THAT THE GRAY MATTER HAD GONE DARK AND THAT ALL HIS ICONS ETC. HAD REAPPEARED BACK ON HIS DESKTOP, ONE SMALL GLITCH IN THE SYSTEM WHICH COULD HAVE COST A FACTORY RESET OR AT WORSE A RE-FORMAT , SO IT PAYS TO CLICK EVERYTHING EVEN IF IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE
BUT THEN AGAIN WHO SAID COMPUTERS MAKE SENSE ?.......I BELIEVE THIS FORUM CAN NOW CLOSE...REGARDS..smallships.
Ouch. Caps hurt.
Sometimes Windows will display a setting despite the behaviour obviously being the other way. The #%**% sound notification in XP is a great example.
Glad you got it fixed!
Kind of late to the party here...
I never allow any form of Automatic Update in any Windows OS. Your problem has shown up in XP, but didn't seem to get really annoying until Vista. That is, users may select "Download but don't install", and Windows Update just ignores the setting. I only manually install updates in the first week after Patch Tuesday, and sometimes a bit later. There's been more than one instance when Microsoft has had to release a patch to fix a patch; I can wait and see if problems develop.
I use Teamviewer to update my friends' machines unless I'm close to them in distance. http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx
As always, ymmv.
1 Guest(s)
