I have been running Vista Ultimate for months without issue (genuine version
of course). Yesterday I downloaded some updates and in the middle of the
update process there has been a power failure in the house... Vista rebooted
and was trapped in a loop: configuring update, shutdown,reboot.

I then booted from the CD and tried to restore a point, no luck, still trap
in the same loop. I then decided to reinstall from scratch from the CD.

Reinstallation took place, just after that Windows Updated downloaded 60
updates, rebooted several times (it trapped and complained about a driver)
but finally did it. However after the final reboot when I logged in I got an
error message: "Windows Aero is not working, you may be victim of a software
counterfeiting". The result is not access to the control panel for example.

The error message suggested to "go online and resolve now". I ended up on
the genuine software page... it runs the test and came back with "validation
successful"... but the problems remained. I then tried the activation over
the phone: started slui.exe 4, called MS, I got the activation number, then
it says again "successful" but after reboot I still have this pop-up "aero
not working" and most of the features are disabled. What could I do now?
Re-install again?

Thanks for your help

You could have physical damage from that power failure. The install should
have run chkdsk for you, and fixed anything fixable. A diagnosis app for the
drive is a good idea. There's also always the option to do an install with
minimum hardware to try identifying damage. (However, an Aero failure is
usually a video problem)
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Mark L. Ferguson
..

"mf22433" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:5C1A92E8-A028-4722-8807-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have been running Vista Ultimate for months without issue (genuine
> version
> of course). Yesterday I downloaded some updates and in the middle of the
> update process there has been a power failure in the house... Vista
> rebooted
> and was trapped in a loop: configuring update, shutdown,reboot.
>
> I then booted from the CD and tried to restore a point, no luck, still
> trap
> in the same loop. I then decided to reinstall from scratch from the CD.
>
> Reinstallation took place, just after that Windows Updated downloaded 60
> updates, rebooted several times (it trapped and complained about a driver)
> but finally did it. However after the final reboot when I logged in I got
> an
> error message: "Windows Aero is not working, you may be victim of a
> software
> counterfeiting". The result is not access to the control panel for
> example.
>
> The error message suggested to "go online and resolve now". I ended up on
> the genuine software page... it runs the test and came back with
> "validation
> successful"... but the problems remained. I then tried the activation over
> the phone: started slui.exe 4, called MS, I got the activation number,
> then
> it says again "successful" but after reboot I still have this pop-up "aero
> not working" and most of the features are disabled. What could I do now?
> Re-install again?
>
> Thanks for your help

I'll check the hardware there is perhaps something wrong there indeed.
In the meantime I thought that perhaps I should try SP1... I did, it
installed successfully and ... the problem is gone! Go figure.

"Mark L. Ferguson" wrote:

> You could have physical damage from that power failure. The install should
> have run chkdsk for you, and fixed anything fixable. A diagnosis app for the
> drive is a good idea. There's also always the option to do an install with
> minimum hardware to try identifying damage. (However, an Aero failure is
> usually a video problem)
> --
> Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
> interface.
> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...eAPostAsAnswer
> Mark L. Ferguson
> .
>
> "mf22433" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:5C1A92E8-A028-4722-8807-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I have been running Vista Ultimate for months without issue (genuine
> > version
> > of course). Yesterday I downloaded some updates and in the middle of the
> > update process there has been a power failure in the house... Vista
> > rebooted
> > and was trapped in a loop: configuring update, shutdown,reboot.
> >
> > I then booted from the CD and tried to restore a point, no luck, still
> > trap
> > in the same loop. I then decided to reinstall from scratch from the CD.
> >
> > Reinstallation took place, just after that Windows Updated downloaded 60
> > updates, rebooted several times (it trapped and complained about a driver)
> > but finally did it. However after the final reboot when I logged in I got
> > an
> > error message: "Windows Aero is not working, you may be victim of a
> > software
> > counterfeiting". The result is not access to the control panel for
> > example.
> >
> > The error message suggested to "go online and resolve now". I ended up on
> > the genuine software page... it runs the test and came back with
> > "validation
> > successful"... but the problems remained. I then tried the activation over
> > the phone: started slui.exe 4, called MS, I got the activation number,
> > then
> > it says again "successful" but after reboot I still have this pop-up "aero
> > not working" and most of the features are disabled. What could I do now?
> > Re-install again?
> >
> > Thanks for your help
>