Reboot loop after configuring Windows Updates

original title: configuring a windows update, stays at 0% then reboots vista, now stuck in continuous loop I cannot break out of!

my system is setup as a dual boot... my main being vista home...

the other day, I did my routine windows update on vista, all went fine...

had to do a restart for the updates to complete. all went as normal...

from that point, curiousity had me looking at the optional updates offered on the update page, one of them being a graphic driver for my card, I chose that and 2 others small ones...

on reboot, I got the 'configuring updates' message...

updates 1 & 2 configured, but on update 3 of 3, it stayed on 0% complete... after a minute or 2, system simply rebooted... I thought 'seems normal'

but, on restart, it came up with, configuring update 3 of 3, stayed on 0%, then rebooted yet again...

it will not finish, it simply keeps cycling through the configuring update 3/reboot cycle...

I tried booting from a medion system recovery disc, I tried checking for statup problems, it reported none found...

I tried a system restore, it only had one, just prior to the updates, but on testing, it simply through me back in at the beginning of the configuring update 1 of 3 part, ending in update 3  doing a repeat of the cycle above..

I tried a chkdsk /f /r on my vista from booting off my recovery disk... it took ages as it was a 1000gb drive, but no problems found...

is there any simple way I can break out of this never ending configure update/reboot loop as I do not want to do a full vista reinstall from my recovery disk