Wndows Update Bricked My Desktop

So I go to apply all 7 criticals yesterday morning, including the IE7 update.
It took a long time and after the reboot, my machine can no longer make it
past bios post. It simply locks up and I am unable to enter the bios at all.
I am running windows XP Pro SP2 on a DFI Socket 939 board with Infinity BIOS.
My hard drive is a SATA raptor. I tried clearing the CMOS to no avail. Normal
I would think that my board is going bad, however the coincidence with
windows update is too big to be ignored. I removed all extra hardware and
still no go. I tried loading a bootable XP CD, still no good. Any ideas here?
I feel like I am SOL and have MS to blame.

If you can't get into BIOS by pressing DEL or whatever the key for access is
for your machine, that has nothing whatsoever to do with Windows.. if you
are using a USB keyboard, it could be that the BIOS has forgotten it's USB
legacy support setting.. resetting the BIOS will ensure that it does forget
it, as the default for this function is 'disabled'.. try a wired keyboard..

One also assumes that lack of access to BIOS is also preventing you setting
the CD/DVD drive as first boot device.. again, not a Windows problem..

Your BIOS may be set to 'halt on keyboard error' in which case the use of an
unrecognised USB keyboard would produce the result you are currently
experiencing..

If you see any error messages relating to no keyboard, no drives recognised,
that might help us to help you more, or tell us if you hear beeps at
start-up..

--
Mike Hall
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User



"Unhappy with WU" <Unhappy with > wrote in
message news:774EE43D-89EE-4B46-9BA2-...
> So I go to apply all 7 criticals yesterday morning, including the IE7
> update.
> It took a long time and after the reboot, my machine can no longer make it
> past bios post. It simply locks up and I am unable to enter the bios at
> all.
> I am running windows XP Pro SP2 on a DFI Socket 939 board with Infinity
> BIOS.
> My hard drive is a SATA raptor. I tried clearing the CMOS to no avail.
> Normal
> I would think that my board is going bad, however the coincidence with
> windows update is too big to be ignored. I removed all extra hardware and
> still no go. I tried loading a bootable XP CD, still no good. Any ideas
> here?
> I feel like I am SOL and have MS to blame.

I already used a wired ps2 keyboard last night when I was testing. There are
no beeps whatsoever. Also the hardware I'm using is fine, it tests fine on
another machine. Like I said, usually I would think it was a mobo problem,
however what are the chances that my board that I've never had a problem with
craps out right when I do my reboot for WU. FYI, I always have my CD/DVD set
as the first boot device specifically for this scenario. I also tried to boot
from CD prior to reseting the CMOS. Any more ideas?

"Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User" wrote:

> If you can't get into BIOS by pressing DEL or whatever the key for access is
> for your machine, that has nothing whatsoever to do with Windows.. if you
> are using a USB keyboard, it could be that the BIOS has forgotten it's USB
> legacy support setting.. resetting the BIOS will ensure that it does forget
> it, as the default for this function is 'disabled'.. try a wired keyboard..
>
> One also assumes that lack of access to BIOS is also preventing you setting
> the CD/DVD drive as first boot device.. again, not a Windows problem..
>
> Your BIOS may be set to 'halt on keyboard error' in which case the use of an
> unrecognised USB keyboard would produce the result you are currently
> experiencing..
>
> If you see any error messages relating to no keyboard, no drives recognised,
> that might help us to help you more, or tell us if you hear beeps at
> start-up..
>
> --
> Mike Hall
> MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
>
>
>
> "Unhappy with WU" <Unhappy with > wrote in
> message news:774EE43D-89EE-4B46-9BA2-...
> > So I go to apply all 7 criticals yesterday morning, including the IE7
> > update.
> > It took a long time and after the reboot, my machine can no longer make it
> > past bios post. It simply locks up and I am unable to enter the bios at
> > all.
> > I am running windows XP Pro SP2 on a DFI Socket 939 board with Infinity
> > BIOS.
> > My hard drive is a SATA raptor. I tried clearing the CMOS to no avail.
> > Normal
> > I would think that my board is going bad, however the coincidence with
> > windows update is too big to be ignored. I removed all extra hardware and
> > still no go. I tried loading a bootable XP CD, still no good. Any ideas
> > here?
> > I feel like I am SOL and have MS to blame.
>
>
>

No beep at all is not a good sign.. most systems beep at least once just to
show that all is well.. any more than one beep indicates faulty video,
memory etc.. no beep at all suggests that the board and/or CPU is shot..
does the power light show, and is there any activity from the CPU and case
fan..

Also, you say that the hardware checks out.. presumably this is a reference
to the keyboard..

In the event that your system has indeed crapped out, you can rest assured
that it was ourely coincidence and had nothing whatsoever to do with Windows
updates..

--
Mike Hall
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User



"Unhappy with WU" <> wrote in message
news:BAB62EC3-B99B-47BA-93F3-...
>I already used a wired ps2 keyboard last night when I was testing. There
>are
> no beeps whatsoever. Also the hardware I'm using is fine, it tests fine on
> another machine. Like I said, usually I would think it was a mobo problem,
> however what are the chances that my board that I've never had a problem
> with
> craps out right when I do my reboot for WU. FYI, I always have my CD/DVD
> set
> as the first boot device specifically for this scenario. I also tried to
> boot
> from CD prior to reseting the CMOS. Any more ideas?
>
> "Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User" wrote:
>
>> If you can't get into BIOS by pressing DEL or whatever the key for access
>> is
>> for your machine, that has nothing whatsoever to do with Windows.. if you
>> are using a USB keyboard, it could be that the BIOS has forgotten it's
>> USB
>> legacy support setting.. resetting the BIOS will ensure that it does
>> forget
>> it, as the default for this function is 'disabled'.. try a wired
>> keyboard..
>>
>> One also assumes that lack of access to BIOS is also preventing you
>> setting
>> the CD/DVD drive as first boot device.. again, not a Windows problem..
>>
>> Your BIOS may be set to 'halt on keyboard error' in which case the use of
>> an
>> unrecognised USB keyboard would produce the result you are currently
>> experiencing..
>>
>> If you see any error messages relating to no keyboard, no drives
>> recognised,
>> that might help us to help you more, or tell us if you hear beeps at
>> start-up..
>>
>> --
>> Mike Hall
>> MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
>>
>>
>>
>> "Unhappy with WU" <Unhappy with > wrote in
>> message news:774EE43D-89EE-4B46-9BA2-...
>> > So I go to apply all 7 criticals yesterday morning, including the IE7
>> > update.
>> > It took a long time and after the reboot, my machine can no longer make
>> > it
>> > past bios post. It simply locks up and I am unable to enter the bios at
>> > all.
>> > I am running windows XP Pro SP2 on a DFI Socket 939 board with Infinity
>> > BIOS.
>> > My hard drive is a SATA raptor. I tried clearing the CMOS to no avail.
>> > Normal
>> > I would think that my board is going bad, however the coincidence with
>> > windows update is too big to be ignored. I removed all extra hardware
>> > and
>> > still no go. I tried loading a bootable XP CD, still no good. Any ideas
>> > here?
>> > I feel like I am SOL and have MS to blame.
>>
>>
>>

Had you tried booting using the Windows CD and chosing Recover Console and
then use fixmbr or fixboot?
"Unhappy with WU" <> wrote in message
news:8A8107E8-E8A7-403C-9802-...
> Just an update. After a week of testing, and hardware swaps I found out
> there
> was no hardware issue at all. Windows Update corrupted my hard drive.
> After
> slaving my hard drive, I found out that my profile was completely nulled
> out
> and my MBR was set to inactive. Nice. So I had to completely reinstall the
> OS
> after backing up my data, but oh well at least I didn't lose all my stuff.
> Either way, I sure Windows update did this as nothing else was running on
> the
> machine and I remember it specifically hanging on the IE7 portion of the
> update. I ran this same update however on my work laptop and my other
> windows
> box at home with no problems. Go figure.
>
> "Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User" wrote:
>
>> No beep at all is not a good sign.. most systems beep at least once just
>> to
>> show that all is well.. any more than one beep indicates faulty video,
>> memory etc.. no beep at all suggests that the board and/or CPU is shot..
>> does the power light show, and is there any activity from the CPU and
>> case
>> fan..
>>
>> Also, you say that the hardware checks out.. presumably this is a
>> reference
>> to the keyboard..
>>
>> In the event that your system has indeed crapped out, you can rest
>> assured
>> that it was ourely coincidence and had nothing whatsoever to do with
>> Windows
>> updates..
>>
>> --
>> Mike Hall
>> MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
>>
>>
>>
>> "Unhappy with WU" <> wrote in
>> message
>> news:BAB62EC3-B99B-47BA-93F3-...
>> >I already used a wired ps2 keyboard last night when I was testing. There
>> >are
>> > no beeps whatsoever. Also the hardware I'm using is fine, it tests fine
>> > on
>> > another machine. Like I said, usually I would think it was a mobo
>> > problem,
>> > however what are the chances that my board that I've never had a
>> > problem
>> > with
>> > craps out right when I do my reboot for WU. FYI, I always have my
>> > CD/DVD
>> > set
>> > as the first boot device specifically for this scenario. I also tried
>> > to
>> > boot
>> > from CD prior to reseting the CMOS. Any more ideas?
>> >
>> > "Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User" wrote:
>> >
>> >> If you can't get into BIOS by pressing DEL or whatever the key for
>> >> access
>> >> is
>> >> for your machine, that has nothing whatsoever to do with Windows.. if
>> >> you
>> >> are using a USB keyboard, it could be that the BIOS has forgotten it's
>> >> USB
>> >> legacy support setting.. resetting the BIOS will ensure that it does
>> >> forget
>> >> it, as the default for this function is 'disabled'.. try a wired
>> >> keyboard..
>> >>
>> >> One also assumes that lack of access to BIOS is also preventing you
>> >> setting
>> >> the CD/DVD drive as first boot device.. again, not a Windows problem..
>> >>
>> >> Your BIOS may be set to 'halt on keyboard error' in which case the use
>> >> of
>> >> an
>> >> unrecognised USB keyboard would produce the result you are currently
>> >> experiencing..
>> >>
>> >> If you see any error messages relating to no keyboard, no drives
>> >> recognised,
>> >> that might help us to help you more, or tell us if you hear beeps at
>> >> start-up..
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Mike Hall
>> >> MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Unhappy with WU" <Unhappy with > wrote in
>> >> message news:774EE43D-89EE-4B46-9BA2-...
>> >> > So I go to apply all 7 criticals yesterday morning, including the
>> >> > IE7
>> >> > update.
>> >> > It took a long time and after the reboot, my machine can no longer
>> >> > make
>> >> > it
>> >> > past bios post. It simply locks up and I am unable to enter the bios
>> >> > at
>> >> > all.
>> >> > I am running windows XP Pro SP2 on a DFI Socket 939 board with
>> >> > Infinity
>> >> > BIOS.
>> >> > My hard drive is a SATA raptor. I tried clearing the CMOS to no
>> >> > avail.
>> >> > Normal
>> >> > I would think that my board is going bad, however the coincidence
>> >> > with
>> >> > windows update is too big to be ignored. I removed all extra
>> >> > hardware
>> >> > and
>> >> > still no go. I tried loading a bootable XP CD, still no good. Any
>> >> > ideas
>> >> > here?
>> >> > I feel like I am SOL and have MS to blame.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>