Vista in reboot loop after installing latest updates

Hello,

My manager has a machine (Dell XPS m1330) with Vista SP1 installed on it.
After we installed the latest updates, we cannot get the machine to boot up
anymore.

It comes up with the MS sign, then with a black screen and a white movable
mousepointer. Then reboots and does the same again. Over and over again.

I cannot believe that an update does that to a machine. That's what the best
viruses do ...

I do not want to try the repair windows feature of the disk since that
usually leades to a reinstall of the OS and everything is screwed up
afterwards. That feature is definitely not working.

Are there any recommendations you can make fast to resolve this. She is the
only Sales person we have got ... We are lost without her.

Thanks

Tha Dark Lord

The Dark Lord wrote:
> Hello,
>
> My manager has a machine (Dell XPS m1330) with Vista SP1 installed on it.
> After we installed the latest updates, we cannot get the machine to boot up
> anymore.
>
> It comes up with the MS sign, then with a black screen and a white movable
> mousepointer. Then reboots and does the same again. Over and over again.
>
> I cannot believe that an update does that to a machine. That's what the best
> viruses do ...
>
> I do not want to try the repair windows feature of the disk since that
> usually leades to a reinstall of the OS and everything is screwed up
> afterwards. That feature is definitely not working.
>
> Are there any recommendations you can make fast to resolve this. She is the
> only Sales person we have got ... We are lost without her.
>
> Thanks
>
> Tha Dark Lord
Pull the drive out of the machine, stick it in a usb enclosure, get the
presentation off the drive. This ensures that you can get the
powerpoint off that system and gives you options.

Boot from media, go into repair option, and you can choose to do a
system rollback.

[Your post did not show up in my newsreader so I'm posting via the
web-interface.]

See my colleague Susan's reply.

Can you boot into Safe Mode or use the Last Known Good Configuration? See
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...ef5a71033.mspx
=============================
Start a free Windows Update support incident request:
https://support.microsoft.com/oas/de...spx?gprid=6527

Support for Windows Update:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/wusupport

For more information about how to contact your local Microsoft subsidiary
for security update support issues, visit the International Support Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx

For enterprise customers, support for security updates is available through
your usual support contacts.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
www.KB951847strikes.again ??

"The Dark Lord" wrote:
> My manager has a machine (Dell XPS m1330) with Vista SP1 installed on it.
> After we installed the latest updates, we cannot get the machine to boot up
> anymore.
>
> It comes up with the MS sign, then with a black screen and a white movable
> mousepointer. Then reboots and does the same again. Over and over again.
>
> I cannot believe that an update does that to a machine. That's what the best
> viruses do ...
>
> I do not want to try the repair windows feature of the disk since that
> usually leades to a reinstall of the OS and everything is screwed up
> afterwards. That feature is definitely not working.
>
> Are there any recommendations you can make fast to resolve this. She is the
> only Sales person we have got ... We are lost without her.

The Dark Lord wrote:

> My manager has a machine (Dell XPS m1330) with Vista SP1 installed on it.
> After we installed the latest updates, we cannot get the machine to boot up
> anymore.
>
> It comes up with the MS sign, then with a black screen and a white movable
> mousepointer. Then reboots and does the same again. Over and over again.
>
> I cannot believe that an update does that to a machine. That's what the best
> viruses do ...

Well, no. The best viruses steal data, e.g., credit card numbers, private
customer data, or internet banking details. In most contexts, compared to that,
a dead machine is a mere inconvenience.

Susan's and PA Bear's suggestions are sound. If you don't have a USB enclosure,
you could instead connect the disk as a secondary disk in another machine. (If
it were me, I would boot to a Windows PE CD instead; however, unless you already
use PE, you probably don't have time to get up to speed.)

Harry.

>> My manager has a machine (Dell XPS m1330) with Vista SP1 installed on it.
>> After we installed the latest updates, we cannot get the machine to boot
>> up anymore.
>>
>> It comes up with the MS sign, then with a black screen and a white
>> movable mousepointer. Then reboots and does the same again. Over and over
>> again.
>>
>> I cannot believe that an update does that to a machine. That's what the
>> best viruses do ...
>
> Well, no. The best viruses steal data, e.g., credit card numbers, private
> customer data, or internet banking details. In most contexts, compared to
> that, a dead machine is a mere inconvenience.
>
> Susan's and PA Bear's suggestions are sound. If you don't have a USB
> enclosure, you could instead connect the disk as a secondary disk in
> another machine. (If it were me, I would boot to a Windows PE CD instead;
> however, unless you already use PE, you probably don't have time to get up
> to speed.)
>
I would be interested to know how you do this with Vista. I just tried it
after booting the system with a UBCD4WIN rescue CD and received an "access
denied" message when attempting to open the C:\Documents and Settings
folder. How are you able to gain access to the user's documents? This
works just fine with XP, but not Vista in my experience.

Victek wrote:

> I would be interested to know how you do this with Vista. I just tried
> it after booting the system with a UBCD4WIN rescue CD and received an
> "access denied" message when attempting to open the C:\Documents and
> Settings folder.

I'm not familiar with UBCD4WIN, but at a guess that's because in Vista
"Documents and Settings" is actually a junction point, not a directory. You
need to look at the "Users" directory instead.

Harry.

"Harry Johnston [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Victek wrote:
>
>> I would be interested to know how you do this with Vista. I just tried
>> it after booting the system with a UBCD4WIN rescue CD and received an
>> "access denied" message when attempting to open the C:\Documents and
>> Settings folder.
>
> I'm not familiar with UBCD4WIN, but at a guess that's because in Vista
> "Documents and Settings" is actually a junction point, not a directory.
> You need to look at the "Users" directory instead.
>
Thanks very much for this information. I just tried it and it works.

Victek wrote:

>>> I would be interested to know how you do this with Vista. I just
>>> tried it after booting the system with a UBCD4WIN rescue CD and
>>> received an "access denied" message when attempting to open the
>>> C:\Documents and Settings folder.
>>
>> I'm not familiar with UBCD4WIN, but at a guess that's because in Vista
>> "Documents and Settings" is actually a junction point, not a
>> directory. You need to look at the "Users" directory instead.
>>
> Thanks very much for this information. I just tried it and it works.

You're welcome. Thanks for letting us know.

Harry.