Microsoft yanks Vista SP1 update causing endless reboots

Responding to reports of endlessly rebooting PCs that flooded support newsgroups
last week, Microsoft Corp.
said on Tuesday it had pulled an update designed to prep Windows Vista for Service
Pack 1.

Although the update -- actually a pair of prerequisite files that modify Vista's
install components -- has been temporarily pulled from Windows Update, Microsoft
has not yet produced a fix for users whose machines either won't boot or reboot
constantly.

"Immediately after receiving reports of this error, we made the decision
to temporarily suspend automatic distribution of the update to avoid further
customer impact while we investigate possible causes," said Nick White,
a Vista program manager, in a post to the company's blog Tuesday afternoon.

White downplayed the problem. "So far, we've been able to determine that
this problem only affects a small number of customers in unique circumstances.
We are working to identify possible solutions and will make the update available
again shortly after we address the issue."

According to White, Update 937287 was the cause of the problem. In a support
document, Microsoft describes that update as one for Vista's installation software,
"the component that handles the installation and the removal of software
updates, language packs, optional Windows features and service packs."
Along with a companion update pushed to users starting Feb. 12 and another that
was offered to machines running Vista Ultimate and Vista Business in January,
the guilty update is required before Vista can be upgraded to Service Pack 1
(SP1).

Shortly after the two prerequisites hit Windows Update last week, users began
reporting problems on Microsoft's support newsgroups. Most said that the update
hung as the message "Configuring Updates Step 3 of 3 -- 0% Complete"
appeared on the screen. When users rebooted hoping to clear the error, their
PCs went into an endless cycle of reboots. A smaller number of users said that
their computers refused to boot normally.

Some users have been able to regain control by booting from a Vista install
DVD and selecting the "Restore from a previous restore point" option.

What's it doing in there?

It's uncertain whether Microsoft knows exactly why Update 937287 is hammering
PCs. Even after White posted the company statement to the Vista blog, Darrell
Gorter, a Microsoft employee, was asking users to send him system logs. "I
still need more log files for the investigations that we are doing," Gorter
said in a message on the support newsgroup. Late last week, Gorter made a similar
request on the same message board.

Also unclear is the actual extent of the problem. Although White called the
number "small," the traffic on the Vista SP1 newsgroup is heavy. One
thread had been viewed more than 35,500 times by late Tuesday.

But the problem is not new. Computerworld has found messages describing the
endless reboot problem dated Dec. 13, one day after it first offered a Vista
SP1 release candidate to the general public. That build of SP1 also required
the prerequisite updates, including 937287.

Microsoft was not available for comment Tuesday night to answer questions about
whether, and if so how, the snafu will impact its plans to start offering SP1
to most users next month. Currently, only beta testers, Volume Licensing customers,
and subscribers to TechNet Plus and Microsoft Developer Network have been able
to download legal versions of the service pack.

That will change in mid-March when SP1 is set to land on Windows Update as
an optional update, and again in mid-April when Microsoft said it would start
installing SP1 automatically on most PCs running Vista.