Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows Vista > Vista General Discussion > Update problems
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antonpanton   08-31-2009 at 01:43:33 PM

Hay guyz!

I was was downloading the latest Vista update but I had to shut it down mid-download. When I restarted it the computer Vista tried to update itself even though the update-download was not complete. Now Vista is trying to update itself perpetually without ever completing.

The cycle looks like this: Computer starts - the Acer screen - Vista announces it is trying to update part 3 of 3 0% complete - Computer restarts - All over - All over - (went on for 20 hours before I shut it down)

I've tried pressing F8 and choosing "use latest working configuration" but it just did the same thing.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

PS. If it comes down to me being forced to reinstall Windows, is there any way I can save my files on the harddrive (It's unpartitioned)?

PPS. The computer is an Acer 5920G if it makes any difference.

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fowang   09-01-2009 at 09:54:31 AM
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do a system restore and run the update again

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Intel core 2 duo e6750 @ 3.3ghz
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi nForce
4gb ocz pc 9200
6 satas
Reply to fowang
antonpanton   09-01-2009 at 10:48:06 AM
- 0 +

fowang wrote :

do a system restore and run the update again



How do I do a system restore? My Vista is OEM Home Premium.

Reply to antonpanton
fowang   09-01-2009 at 03:37:12 PM
- 0 +

right when booting your computer press f8 before the scolling windows bar comes up, boot into safe mode, soon after you will be prompted if you want to use system restore, select the option that will take you into system restore, restore your computer to a date before you ran the update and the computer will do the rest!

------------------------------ Intel core 2 duo e6750 @ 3.3ghz
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi nForce
4gb ocz pc 9200
6 satas
Reply to fowang
antonpanton   09-01-2009 at 05:31:41 PM
- 0 +

Tried it. Same result except in lower resolution.

I never get to the point where I'm prompted to do a system restore. After the lines of texts it loads a bit and then the same screen "Configuring updates: Stage 3 of 3 - 0% complete. Do not turn off your computer" After a little while and without progress on the update it restarts, again.

It's starting to look like I'll have to reinstall everything (along with switching to Macintosh), is there any way of saving the content of my (unpartioned) harddrive?

Reply to antonpanton
fowang   09-02-2009 at 12:54:50 PM
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hmmm try using your vista DVD and repair the windows install, to do this you have to make sure the DVD drive is set as the primary boot device and have the disk in the computer and boot from dvd follow the options it will look like you are installing vista from scratch but on the second screen it will say do you want to repair the windows installation.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Intel core 2 duo e6750 @ 3.3ghz
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi nForce
4gb ocz pc 9200
6 satas
Reply to fowang
antonpanton   09-02-2009 at 02:45:10 PM
- 0 +

fowang wrote :

hmmm try using your vista DVD and repair the windows install, to do this you have to make sure the DVD drive is set as the primary boot device and have the disk in the computer and boot from dvd follow the options it will look like you are installing vista from scratch but on the second screen it will say do you want to repair the windows installation.



Ok, now I can get to system restore but then I get this message: "No restore points have been created on your computer's systems disk. To create a restore point, open System Protection"

System protection?

Thanks for the help, almost there! :)

Reply to antonpanton
fowang   09-02-2009 at 06:46:19 PM
- 0 +

you must have turned off the restore points at some stage, hmmm have you tried to repair yet?

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Intel core 2 duo e6750 @ 3.3ghz
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi nForce
4gb ocz pc 9200
6 satas
Reply to fowang
antonpanton   09-03-2009 at 12:37:35 PM
- 0 +

fowang wrote :

you must have turned off the restore points at some stage, hmmm have you tried to repair yet?



I tried every option the Vista DVD offered short of reinstalling everything, nada. :pfff:

Is there any program which allows you to move your files to an external storage device without having to start Windows? I'd format the damn thing and get this over with if it wasn't for my files.

Reply to antonpanton
fowang   09-03-2009 at 03:12:44 PM
- 0 +

knopix if you can get it burnt onto a cd will boot up into a linux environment and you will be albe to transfer your info off, seems the format is the only way to go.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Intel core 2 duo e6750 @ 3.3ghz
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi nForce
4gb ocz pc 9200
6 satas
Reply to fowang
antonpanton   09-03-2009 at 06:17:20 PM
- 0 +

fowang wrote :

knopix if you can get it burnt onto a cd will boot up into a linux environment and you will be albe to transfer your info off, seems the format is the only way to go.



Aaargh, booting Linux through a CD, should have thought of that, would have saved me a week of worries.

Thanks fowang, good karma coming your way! :)

Reply to antonpanton
antonpanton   09-03-2009 at 06:55:26 PM
- 0 +

I figured out how to start the GUI and I\m can even access the internet on the troubled laptop now. But the problems keep on piling..

 

I can locate my harddrive and the external harddrive (which works fine) but when I try to access the internal harddrive named 139,3 GB Volume I get this message> Error org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume.UnknownFailure@

 

Which is highly odd because when I was running the Vista DVD I could browse( unfortunately not move though) through my files using the ^search for driver^ option so there should be nothing wrong with it.

 


Any ideas? Are there any other CD based Linux systems?


Message edited by antonpanton on 09-03-2009 at 07:18:49 PM
Reply to antonpanton
Zoron   09-03-2009 at 07:29:45 PM
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I would recommend Ubuntu... the install media also works as a Live CD and I believe it has NTFS support right off the bat... though I would think Knoppix should as well.

------------------------------ Desktop: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit; Intel Q6600 CPU; E-VGA 780i SLI motherboard; E-VGA E-GeForce 8800GT; OCZ Vista 4GB dual-channel kit; Ultra X2 750W power supply; 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB in RAID 0. Laptop: Acer Aspire 8730-6314;
 Reply to Zoron
antonpanton   09-03-2009 at 08:08:43 PM
- 0 +

Success!

At first Ubuntu had the same problem as Knopix but was a bit more elaborating about the cause of the problem, apparently the harddrive had not been shut down properly. I shutdown and took out the Ubuntu disk, let Windows run it's update-without-updating routine and put the Ubuntu disk back in after it restarted. Now I can access all the files and I'm transfering them to my external HD as I type.

The 2nd time this happens to another human on earth this thread shall be the definitive authority on the subject. :D

Thanks to fowang and zoron, your help is much appreciated. :bounce:

Reply to antonpanton
fowang   09-04-2009 at 10:30:57 AM
- 0 +

Your welcome

------------------------------ Intel core 2 duo e6750 @ 3.3ghz
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi nForce
4gb ocz pc 9200
6 satas
Reply to fowang
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