Ron Schenone

Any Problems With Microsoft Windows Vista Update?

Posted by on Feb 14, 2008 | 29 Comments

Over at Scot’s Newsletter forum this morning there was a posting from hkspike in which it was stated:

2 hours ago I clicked OK for my main PC to restart after it claimed to have applied some Vista patch or other. Currently it is sitting at Stage 3 of 3. 0% complete with its little blue circle going round and round. Everyday I learn to dislike Vista more.

Presuming MS knew it would take hours to reboot, perhaps they could have advised me?

If they did not, after all this time, perhaps they could test their software a little more rigorously?

Agh!

I was just wondering if anyone else was having problems with updates for Vista? I haven’t experienced any such problem myself. Let us know.

Comments welcome.

  • a guy

    same problem here. Its been at stage 3 of 3 0% for over 20 minutes. Im writing this on my mac. Vista Ultimate..what a joke!

  • Denny

    Hi..Ron

    I read This Post this Morning So I Decided to Fire Up my VISTA–BOX
    So Here I am…Down Loaded and Installed__42.1MB__ of Updates…

    _____Vista–Ultimate…and NO-PROBLEMS______
    Took about 3 Minutes too CONUFIGURE–UPDATES on Reboot….

    _________AND_________Maybe you should E-Mail RUSH
    and tell Him to Switch Too a WINDOWS MACHINE….
    at Least When You BUY a New Windows Machine
    you Don’t Expect It To Work Right…..

    Denny_._. :-)

  • Don Naphen

    Personally, I had no problem whatsoever on the huge d/loaded patches Ron. Required only one reboot after the installation(s) were completed. I guess it all depends on the time of day (?). I usually do that stuff when I get up at 4 a.m. !!

    Speaking of slow however, I’ve noticed the lockergnome server taking forever to reach the “Done” on my screen (lower left- Vista OS). Same with The Oracle, who obviously is using the same server. Any problems worth noting? I finally got over Super Bowl depression and am eagerly looking forward to some Spring Training telecasts from Ft. Myers! Have a great weekend Ron.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Denny,
    Same here – no problems.

    Hi Don,
    LG has been slow most of the day for me as well. :-( I think we are all looking forward to SPRING anything! LOL Have a great weekend as well.

  • GOOSE

    No problems here either…..I love XP

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/theoracle/ the oracle

    Apparently, getting the install done is just the beginning. Preston Gralla writes about the performance loss with Vista SP1 and the slowness in comparison to XP.

    http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9062018&pageNumber=1

    just a small tidbit…

    found that copying a large file — 2.49GB — to a local folder under SP1 was 20% slower than performing the same operation in pre-SP1. Copying that same file to a network folder took essentially the same amount of time in pre-SP1 and Vista SP1. And copying a 256MB folder full of files to a local disk and to a network folder took essentially the same amount of time in each as well.

    XP was three times as fast as both versions of Vista copying a folder of files to a local disk, and more than twice as fast as both versions of Vista when copying a folder of files to a network folder

    Vista is measurably slower still. So much for MS progress – Ballmer’s boys and girls have been slacking off, and thinking too much of how much fun they will have putting the Yahoo people through the indoctrination and torture process.

  • http://www.myspace.com/eastern_empire Marc Buckingham

    I had no problems with the Vista updates either. However, yesterday on Pirillo’s live chat, someone reported that after applying 12 updates and rebooting, apparently their SATA HDD and DVD drives were reported by Vista as being external USB devices, when they were clearly not….

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Gooe,
    Interesting and informative! :-)

    Heh Marc,
    Thanks for the link. I think during the next few months we are going to see a lot of pros and cons about updates and SP1.

    Hello Marc B.,
    Thanks for sharing this. It is appreciated.

    Thanks everyone for stopping by. Ron

  • Alan

    Just did a search for this “Stage 3 of 3″ reboot loop and found your blog because I’m now having the SAME PROBLEM!

    Watch out because it sounds like a LOT of people are starting to see the problem. Without a restore point, which I don’t have, there doesn’t seem to be a solution yet.

    If anyone finds how to fix it without restore points, please let us losers know!

  • Trent

    I installed vista updates yesterday (updates issued on 2/12/08) and they caused my system to not reboot and just hang at setp 3 of 3 at 0% as described above in a prior post. I actually found this forum looking for info on which specific update it was that caused the issue so I can cancel it out and install all the others that DON’T screw up my laptop. My gosh Microsoft is miserable…

  • Trent

    BTW, I used my vista disc to “repair” the vista software. It finished and said it cound’t find anything to repair but apparently fixed it automatically. I’m now just searching for the bugg-nasty update code to single out the litte pain in the arse.

  • Trent

    OK folks I think my update history pointed this out and maybe some of you can confirm. It seems that “Update for Windows Vista (KB937287)” is our little POS. It was the only one to “fail” among the others I ran yesterday. Help get the word out to avoid this one.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello Trent,
    Thanks or taking the time to post your solution and findings. It is appreciated.
    Regards, Ron

  • Gedeon

    Same issue here in the UK, 1 month old Dell 1520. Automatic updates came in and installed while i was out in the pub. Now it’s just rebooting every two minutes… Probably forever :(

  • John

    My problem is I can’t NOT update!

    Apparently one of the recent updates doesn’t jive with my video driver (in my Asus G1). It slows down ridiculously, the screen goes black, and then sometimes it comes back with “system has recovered from video driver failure” or some such.

    I use my recovery disks to no avail – every time (5 times now) I reload the system software, it works fine till I go online. Then it auto-installs the update, then it all happens again. (cursor goes crazy, system slows down, etc.)

    GEEZ! Any suggestions?

    Any ideas?

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi John,
    I’d turn off auto update for now.

  • Steven Shi

    My Vista is continuing: hang at “3 of 3 at 0% complete” (keep about 3 minutes) –> reboot –> hang at “3 of 3 …” forever! Hey, Microsoft, what are you doing?

  • Steve

    Same problem here. Have a question… I’m getting different recommendations from Best Buy on this. One geek said I could use the Recovery Manager by using PF11 to recover the OS from a prior day before this mess, and then another geek said I would loose my personal files if I did the recovery from the partition. Any hands on experience?

  • Bob

    I’m hving this same problem with the March updates. It’s hung on a screen saying “…Stage 3 of 3 – 100% complete. Do not turn off your computer,” and the little blue wheel just keeps spinning. It has been likie this for at least two hours.

  • Glenn Daulton

    I have got the same issue. 0% of 3 of 3 Updates. Do not turn off computer.. There are a lot of Peeps with the prob, but don’t seem to be a definitive answer to sorting it out.. Have tried allsorts but to no avail..

    Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp !!!!

  • eross

    That’s weird, my updates never require a reboot unless it’s a kernel update which is pretty quick anyway.. I LOVE my UBUNTU – oh wait, you said vista.. that’s not linux, sorry >)

  • david finn

    my computer is the dell inspiron, not even a year old yet,
    it’s stuck at that 3 of 3 at 0% complete sign with the blue circle going round and round, anybody know what i should do?

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone
  • Elfi

    Hi,
    For about 2 weeks, (I have Vista Home Premium edition) my computer needs 20 minutes for updates every time I start it.

    It say that updates are being configureed part 1 of of 3. This takes about 20 minutes every time I turn the computer.
    Any suggestions?

    Thanks, ES

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    I’d do a restore back prior to when the problem started. Then try the updates again.

  • Gary Siegle

    I have a Dell Inspiron 530, which is about one year old. I needed to reboot the computer after receiving a constant message because of Windows Defender. Upon selecting reboot, I received a message stating that it was updating 13 parts. I turned off the monitor and went to bed. I pressed the power on and then received a message stating the Configuring updates Stage 1 through 3. It managed to make it all the way to 100% with no problems. However, it has been over an hour or so, but the system is not rebooting. My question is, “How long do I wait before I pull the plug?” Fortunately, I have a Dell laptop running XP and another Dell Inspiron that my wife has. Any suggestions???

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Gary,
    If it is stuck trying to update, pull the plus, reboot and go into Safemode by pressing the F8 key constantly during boot. Go into system restore and restore the computer to a date before the problems started. See if the system will than boot normally.

  • Gary Siegle

    Hi Ron,

    I did power down the machine and then wanted to try something else first. I wanted to see what would happen if I allowed the computer to bootup without any intervention on my part. I received my login screen almost immediately and then after a few moments, my icons popped up. I received several messages stating that certain programs (e.g., Adobe, Mionet) were finished updating, which required one more reboot. I complied with said request with no further problems. Based on this, it may be feasible to pull the plug only if you are at 100% and the computer is not stuck in a constant reboot mode or some other weird problem that others are experiencing. However, in response to your suggestion, it would also be prudent to start setting restore points prior to any major update, or any other changes (i.e., register, delete a program, add a program). Then, you should create another restore point afterwards. Well, it looks like everything is progressing in a feasible manner, therefore, without further discourse on my part, I bid you all happy hunting. I, for one, need to get back to my PhD studies.

    Cheers…

  • JIM

    after loading the update, my Acer has stopped working and wont even reboot! l have installed another hard drive and will copy across all my personal files from the old drive and then disable uato update!