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Latest Vista Update stuck in Stage 3/restart loop

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I have Vista Business system on a Toshiba notebook, latest Service Pack and with all updates. It was fully functional when i last shut it down. I just booted it up to find the Stage 3 page of a Windows update. 0% progress shown, then it restarts, and opens at the same page again. Stuck in this loop. Have tried using F8 to get last good installation, and to stop auto restart, without success, it just keeps returning to the Stage 3 page and reboots. Tried Systems Repair which offered a System Restore, but that wouldn't start. System Repair now just keeps showing progress (for 3/4 hour) without any HD activity. I shut it down and it still restarts at same Stage 3 page.

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davidmac11

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Configuring updates stage 3 of 3. 0% complete

Road Map:

------------------------------

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358

Use the System Recovery options to rename the Pending.xml file and edit
the registry:

On the System Recovery Options page, click Command Prompt.

Type cd C:\windows\winsxs, and then press ENTER.

Type ren pending.xml pending.old, and then press ENTER.

Type regedit, and then press ENTER.

Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

On the File menu, click Load Hive.

Locate the following folder:

C:\windows\system32\config\components

When you are prompted for a name, type Offline_Components.

In Registry Editor, locate and then delete the following registry
subkey:

HLKM\Offline Components\AdvancedInstallersNeedResolving

HKLM\Offline Components\PendingXmlIdentifier

Exit Registry Editor:

At the command prompt, type exit to exit Registry Editor.

Press ENTER.

Click Restart.

Kindly reply to me if the steps worked.

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MickyO

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Hi davidmac11,

Thank you for choosing Microsoft Answers Forum.

Boot your Computer in safe mode and try performing a SFC scan on your computer :

How to boot your system into Safe Mode…

1. Restart your computer if it is powered on.

2. Tap the F8 key after your computer initially powers on.

3. Once you see the Advanced Boot Options menu you can stop tapping.

4. Use the up/down arrow keys to highlight your selection.

5. Select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter.

6. You should see drivers loading, and then please wait for the welcome screen.

7. Logon to your computer using an account with Administrator privileges.

Steps to perform a SFC scan..

1. Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, click Start , click All Programs , click Accessories , right-click Command Prompt , and then click Run as administrator . If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow .

2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

The sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions

You can also follow the below article which says about renaming the Pending.xml file:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358

Let us know how it works.

Regards,
Amritha - Microsoft support.

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Sandeep G R

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I have just had the same issue after installing the latest windows updates (Vista Home Premium SP1 64bit), the problem is that not even safe mode will load up as that also displays the 'Installing Updates Stage 3' message before promptly restarting (it won't even get to the logon screen). This is a major problem as there is nothing easy that you can do to break out of this continuous update restart loop, (Safe Mode Doesn't Work, neither does 'Last Known Good Configuration' or using the Windows Vista installation DVD to try to restore to an earlier restore point, as this is unable to detect any restore points on your computer)

I have managed to solve the issue though, see the advanced Method 3 on this article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358 as this solved my problem. The only issue I had was due to the high permission level on the 'pending.xml' file I was unable to rename it to 'pending.old'. The way round this was to boot into a Ubuntu Live CD (Linux) and then navigate to the file and rename it (as Linux ignores the NTFS security permission level of the file).

Hope this helps, though please Microsoft get this silly update bug fixed!! as I'm sure lots of other people are being caught out by this issue and the solution is quite complex so most people will basically be faced with a 'bricked' computer where they will have to reinstall windows just to fix this silly bug (because it will not allow them to do anything else to try and fix their computer).

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Oliver75482

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MickyO

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Hi I can see the above advice you've given to fix the update problem, however, coupled with this problem the screen won't come on so I am unable to access anything. What do you suggest? Thank you.

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cazbam

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Hi Cazbam ,
Not to sure with your screen problem sounds to me that you are not getting power to your monitor,
(are you on laptop or desktop ???) if desktop
Id check that all connections are connected and check that your monitor has power.
The above restart loop fix works well all be it a pain in the ____.
sorry I cant offer any more advice.

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MickyO

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Thanks for the suggestions. I did reply earlier, but it seems the message did not make it. The gist of it was this.

The looping wouldn't let me boot into Vista safe mode, even using the repair disk, or i could have done a system restore from there. So SFC scanning didn't work.

What did work was following the article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358 that you mentioned. Method 3: Going into DOS and renaming the pending.xml file plus the other suggested registry changes. That stopped the looping, and i was able to restore the system to prior the Windows update.

I have the following suggestions that could improve the experience for others:

1) The repair disk boots you into an X: drive directory. From there, my machine wouldn't respond to the the cd command suggested. My DOS being a little rusty, it took me a while to think to change drives by typing C: before typing in the cd string. If this is a generic issue, it would be helpful to us non-DOS experts to include the instruction to type C: before the change directory instructions.

2) Since the registry changes and the original update failure itself may have damaged the registry, it seemed prudent, once having access to Vista, to restore the system to a time before the Windows update event that caused the problem. Adding this action into the instructions may be beneficial.

3) I see from all the many similar posts, that this stage 3 looping problem has quite a history, and has not been fixed. So my last point is more of a plea to Microsoft to please fix the problem - permanently.

This frustrating experience has undermined my confidence in the 'auto-update' feature, which i have now switched off. Many "experts" recommend checking monthly for updates instead of using the auto-update feature. So i shall try this approach in future.

Thanks for your helpful input Amritha, MickyO , Oliver and the other posters.

Regards,

davidmac11

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davidmac11

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I have had this problem today too and I support the final couple of comments of davidmac11 - please get this fixed as it has undermined my confidence in auto-update which I have also switched off.

For interest's sake - the process I used to stop the continuous re-booting was to hit the F8 key on one of the automatic re-boots and select "Repair your PC" from the menue that came up (selecting a "safe mode" option did not stop the re-booting). I was then able to select the "System Restore" option from a menu that came up and restored back to July 26th.

That seems to have stopped the re-booting for the time being. However, I see that my shutdown option has updates pending so I think I will try to rename the "pending.xml" file procedure described in MickyO's post.

Thanks to everyone for this assistance.

SRK50.

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SRK50

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It worked fine for me. I had to start running it from the Vista disc to reach DOS, because F9/F8 command in the start- up made me run into the same loop over and over again. I didn´t yet experience any problems with up-dates or any other functions after this operaton. I believe the 3(3)0% problems occured after an abrupt power failure. Thank´s for the tip MickyO! ( I would not have dared to use it if I had read the"Method 3" way of solving the problem at the Microsoft home page before I read yours though)
I have the Vista Home premium 32-bit version by the way.
Thanks Again!

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harald_fredrikss

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Hi...I am having the same problem, and am struggling to submit a question
I cannot get out of the loop and dont have the Vista Disc...I don't think we got one from Acer?
So, how can I break the loop to get to DOS
I saw that one of the options was as follows, but I tried this but never go a welcome screen, just the same loop

1. Restart your computer if it is powered on.

2. Tap the F8 key after your computer initially powers on.

3. Once you see the Advanced Boot Options menu you can stop tapping.

4. Use the up/down arrow keys to highlight your selection.

5. Select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter.

6. You should see drivers loading, and then please wait for the welcome screen.

7. Logon to your computer using an account with Administrator privileges.

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Warde Wynter

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I have wasted a day trying to resolve this issue before being able to use my sons laptop to seach for the answer, once in dos and using seach in regedit i did the fix, trying to find the files to delete was a pain, but the seach found them quickly. Will the new windows be the same pain to update.

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nodreyno

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