Boot Failure after installing Windows Updates

[John]

Every time I install Windows Updates to my computer, the computer hangs when
I try to restart. It gets to the screen with the XP logo and the blue boxes
running across the bar below it and it stops there forever.

By trial and error, I've found that I can recover if I:
- Boot to safe mode
- Use msconfig to select"Diagnostic startup"
- Reboot (the boot will succeed)
- Use msconfig again to select "Normal startup"
- Reboot (the boot will succeed again, and the system will be fine.)

Once running, the system works fine with no errors of any kind.

I am seeing this on two of my three computers. So far, it's always been
recoverable so it's not a catastrophic problem, but it's an indication that
something, somewhere is wrong. Does anybody have an idea why this is
happening and how to fix it?

 

[Cat_in_awe]

Every time I install Windows Updates to my computer, the computer
hangs when I try to restart. It gets to the screen with the XP logo
and the blue boxes running across the bar below it and it stops there
forever.

By trial and error, I've found that I can recover if I:
- Boot to safe mode
- Use msconfig to select"Diagnostic startup"
- Reboot (the boot will succeed)
- Use msconfig again to select "Normal startup"
- Reboot (the boot will succeed again, and the system will be fine.)

Once running, the system works fine with no errors of any kind.

I am seeing this on two of my three computers. So far, it's always
been recoverable so it's not a catastrophic problem, but it's an
indication that something, somewhere is wrong. Does anybody have an
idea why this is happening and how to fix it?

I had a very similar problem and it was caused by a bad driver for the
Ethernet Card (that I got from Windows Update). Have you updated any
drivers of any kind recently? You might try rolling those back.

 

[John]

I had a very similar problem and it was caused by a bad driver for the
Ethernet Card (that I got from Windows Update). Have you updated any
drivers of any kind recently? You might try rolling those back.

Thanks for the reply. I haven't knowingly changed any drivers. But are you
saying that a Windoiws Update (i.e., the "updates are ready for your
computer" thing) actually changed your network card driver without your
knowing it, and that caused the problem? If so, how would I recognize if
such a thing had happened?

John

 

[DL]

It depends as to whether winupdate is configured for Critical updates only
If you manually run winupdate from IE you can review your update history to
see what has been updated

You might also want to check Event Viewer for any relevent errs

 

[John]

It depends as to whether winupdate is configured for Critical updates only
If you manually run winupdate from IE you can review your update history to
see what has been updated

You might also want to check Event Viewer for any relevent errs

IE's history doesn't really tell me much. It says things like "Security
Update for Windows XP" and "Update for Windows XP" without any indication of
what files were actually touched.

The event viewer has a few errors, mostly related to DHCP and loss of leases
on IP addresses. But there are one or two about DCOM getting an error
indicating a service could not be started. I wonder if those might be
relevant? It looks like it'll take a lot of digging to see what they
actually mean. (I'm not sure if they correspond to the times at which I was
trying to boot the system or not.)

 

[DL]

You could also enable boot logging next time it fails, then reboot without
going through your workaround.
Once booted properly, examine the log

 

[John]

You could also enable boot logging next time it fails, then reboot without
going through your workaround.
Once booted properly, examine the log

I wasn't aware of that feature, it looks like it might be helpful in telling
me what did or didn't load or start. Is that selection available on the same
black screen where you select Safe Mode/Safe Mode with Networking/... etc.?
I never noticed it there, but I was always looking for how to get going again
rather than logging, so I may have just overlooked it.

-- John

 

[DL]

yes

I wasn't aware of that feature, it looks like it might be helpful in
telling
me what did or didn't load or start. Is that selection available on the
same
black screen where you select Safe Mode/Safe Mode with Networking/...
etc.?
I never noticed it there, but I was always looking for how to get going
again
rather than logging, so I may have just overlooked it.

-- John

 

[John]

yes

Thanks. I'll try it next time, and probably post again when I find out what
it says

-- John