Windows Vista Windows update problems with Vista Home Premium

Hi all. My son's laptop is experiencing some problems that need to be figured out, if possible. This started with some Windows updates from February 12th. He said that all was good until it rebooted and then hung on "step 3" while installing. Ever since then, he has had problems getting into Windows at all. He's home from college for a few days and so I get to try and figure it out.

The updates, if important, are:

Security Update for Windows Vista (KB 2485376)
Security Update for Windows Vista (KB 2483185)
Cumulative Security Update for IE8 for Windows Vista (KB 2482017)
Update for Windows Vista (KB 971029)
Platform Update Supplement for Windows Vista (KB 2117917)
Update for Windows Mail Junk E-Mail Filter [February 2011] (KB905866)
Security Update for Windows Vista (KB 2393802)
Security Update for Windows Vista (KB 2479628)

He has Windows Update set to automatically download and install. Therefore, they have attempted to install 6 times since the 12th. For awhile, he didn't even try to turn on his system or there would be more failed attempts.

As you can tell, I was able to get into Windows by doing Selective Startup. Honestly, I can't remember which setting I used because I've tried them all. I had to change that by going into SAFE mode, which it will do without a problem. I've tried stopping the Windows Update process from starting, but that just hangs the system on startup. I have tried, Last Known Configuration, Restore Points, and a Repair Disk. Also, I was able to run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. It found two files that it removed. Nothing seems to get it going and running as it should. I even restarted the Update process and tried to change the setting to just notify of new updates, but that doesn't hold.

Is it possible to delete the downloaded updates? If so, where are they? I did find a link that said they were located in Windows\Software Distribution\Download. I did find two folders with dates of the 12th and March 15th. I deleted those and it didn't help. Is there anything else I can try here? I would really like to avoid the reload of the system. Would a Repair Install of Vista work? Does that erase any files on the drive? There are no disks, just a partition. I can try to burn the disks if I can get back into Windows. Or, am I to the point of trying to salvage the files I can and reload the system. I think I mentioned everything that I've tried. At this point, I'm willing to try just about anything. I just need to get it going again.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Mike

 

Thanks Arie. I'll see what I can get done after work tonight. On a side note, I was able to create the recovery disks. So, I guess that's good.

Mike

 

Broni got my system cleaned out on this thread, so I will mark this resolved. Windows Update is still messing things up so my son and I decided to just pop in the recovery disks and start fresh. With Broni's help I was able to get into Windows and back up all his important files/folders onto an external drive. Off to rebuild.

Mike