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Solved: Windows Cumulative Security Update IE8 - Causes Reboot during stage 3 configu

4K views 12 replies 2 participants last post by  Mumbodog 
#1 ·
Recent (Oct 15th) huge number of security updates, caused grief on 32bit Vista SP2 which I have narrowed down to the IE8 Cumulative Security Update by a process of elimination re-applying patchsets & testing the box.

With IE8 cumaltive security, in Stage 3 of "Configuring Update" it seems to be stuck at 0%, the chime occurs, but after a while the screen blanks, and the hardware resets a little later causing a reboot.

Updated ATI Radeon Video driver to latest has been to no avail; the machine seems solid in use and is also running Linux (and updated an old install with 10 months of patches) perfectly. Checking BIOS & drivers are up to date hasn't turned anything up, and the box and install generally solid. I tried booting with 'Safe options' to configure the update, but that did not help, so it would appear unlikely the resets are a driver issue.

Whilst I have the system back through system restore to checkpoint before the update, and have now hidden this patch, this leaves me with an insecure IE8.

1) Can I report the problem with the update anywhere?
2) Could I obtain smaller patchsets to find the likely culprit?
3) Can I downgrade IE8 to IE7?

Obviously I can use FF-3.5 for normal browsing, but some Windows programs & sites try to force use of IE, so the security issue does matter. This has caused much inconvenience and time, to a relatively tech savvy user, so one would hope a cumumaltive patch becomes available which does not have this fault.
 
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#2 ·
Did you try installing the patch all by itself?

Try doing a browser reset of IE before applying the patch.

FYI, if restore fails (and it does on some 3 of 3 hangs) Here is how to get it booting again.

If restore fails, load the recovery environment command prompt
enter
Del C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

exit recovery environment and restart the pc, you may get 3 of 3 again but be patient, the desktop should load. Create a restore point and Turn off Automatic updates until you can figure out which update caused the loop.
.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply. Yes I isolated the culprit to the IE8 Cumulative Security update, by going from 18 updates down to 1, which reliably fails!

As Update makes a checkpoint just before updates are installed, I was able to restore system to undo the change.

It's not clear to me, what a "browser reset of IE" means; I don't ever deliberately use IE8 it is just some programs & (broken) websites that start IE or which try to insist you use it.

The issue is not to get a "working system", but to get one patched with the security updates, preferably for IE8, or downgrade back to IE7 and then hope it's cumulative patch is better tested with Vista SP2.
 
#4 ·
Browser reset
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923737

The reason I recommend this is, since the update is for IE, some browser add ons and toolbars might be the cause of the stall, reset will remove all these.

The issue is not to get a "working system",
I realize this, thus the FYI, "for your information", thought it might be useful to you at some future date.

.
 
#5 ·
Gave it a try, and after running "Fix it!" re-applied the IE8 update, on boot it go to same spot :

Configuring Updates: Stage 3 of 3 0%
Do not turn off the power to your computer!

There appeared a splash screen which said "Please Wait", then "Shutting down", though on the 2nd & 3rd reboot cycle the screen went black as described before.

So I am back at same situation as described having recovered system yet again, if IE8 were cheese it's Emmental rather than the desired Cheddar!
 
#8 ·
I'm loathe to risk suppressing the Stage 3/3 configure update, as it stays on 0%; presumably the splash screen mean it decided on yet another reboot, rather than the apparent hardware reset when the display went blank and after a while the BIOS power-up sequence started. How would I have any confidence, the patch was properly applied? They don't do Stage 2 & 3 configure and a reboot just for the fun of it.

The villain's name is - Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Vista (KB974455)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...4f-950b-4e11-a105-51d298069f1a&displaylang=en

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-054 - Critical
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (974455) - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-054.mspx

Now there's support site for updates not installing, at http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx?rdpath=4 I confirm I am in UK, continue through and then get to a page offering a choice between the US and Canada! The forum is down, and obviously the phone is not an option, yeeeeh MicrosSoft!

There does not appear to be a way for me to even report this issue. Thanks for taking an interest in this Mumbodog.
 
#12 ·
The deletion of the "pending.xml" file did indeed result in a login screen, rather than the reboot infinite loop.

The main Explorer exe, does seem to be updated, but the components seem to live somewhere else, so I've not checked those. With earlier versions of explorer it looks like Vista SP2 gets a X.0.6002.188nn version number, whereas looks like 8.0.6001.188nn is right for IE8.

Unless there's a method (like in Linux) of verifying what's installed against what is meant to be there for the package version, there doesn't seem to be anything else to be done about this; and I'm pretty sick of disruptive System Restore cycles (partly has I have to strip down the box to single disk for Vista restore system).

So thanks once again, think this is solved by loading the recovery environment and deleting the pending file at command prompt.
 
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