Infinite reboot loop after a BSoD and attempted windows updates

A few days ago my computer blue screened with some sort of memory error. When I attempted to start it back up, it began installing windows updates that I had been putting off. After it looked like it had mostly finished, it got to a screen that said "preparing to configure windows. Do not restart your computer". After sitting on that screen for about thirty seconds the computer rebooted, and then went back to that screen. After about 20 minutes of this, I decided that it probably wasn't going to fix itself.

Things I've tried:
Booting into safe mode (when I attempt to boot into safe mode I end up in the same loop)
There's a tutorial on this site about repair the registry hives, I followed it but It had no effect
I found a tutorial on another site that suggested using the dism took to revert pending installations. This also had no effect
I used a windows 7 install disk and a repair disk and have had no luck with them.
The automatic start up repair tool lists error "system file integrity check. Code: 0xa" or something similar

Hello Sk8kidamh,

That issue certainly doesn't sound good.

Can you just clarify that you cannot log into your computer, but you can get into options, such as system restore, command prompt, start-up repair?

If so, please open System Recovery Options (What are the system recovery options in Windows? - Windows Help) and select Command Prompt. When in Command Prompt, please type sfc /scannow and select enter.

Hopefully we can resolve this issue.

Thank you,
VinnyBuxton

I cannot even get to the login screen. I can access anything that can be accessed before a full windows boot.

It looks like the sfc/scannow command isn't going to work. I'm getting the error "there is a system repair pending. Please reboot and try again".

I tried rebooting and trying again, I rebooted and let the system cycle through its loop a few times, and I tried navigating the the recovery options through a windows repair disk, with no luck.

Can you try opening Command Prompt again and type the following:
dism.exe /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions

Kaktussoft said:

Sk8kidamh said:

A few days ago my computer blue screened with some sort of memory error. When I attempted to start it back up, it began installing windows updates that I had been putting off. After it looked like it had mostly finished, it got to a screen that said "preparing to configure windows. Do not restart your computer". After sitting on that screen for about thirty seconds the computer rebooted, and then went back to that screen. After about 20 minutes of this, I decided that it probably wasn't going to fix itself.

Things I've tried:
Booting into safe mode (when I attempt to boot into safe mode I end up in the same loop)
There's a tutorial on this site about repair the registry hives, I followed it but It had no effect
I found a tutorial on another site that suggested using the dism took to revert pending installations. This also had no effect
I used a windows 7 install disk and a repair disk and have had no luck with them.
The automatic start up repair tool lists error "system file integrity check. Code: 0xa" or something similar

Why repair registry hives? why revert pending installations that way? I think you realy screwed the machine by doing that(?)

Can you still perform a system restore to date/time prior to problems began? If not... post error message.

Sorry to say but: "and have had no luck with them" is not very specific. How can I know what you did and what errors it gave. "Code: 0xa" or something similar" is not very specific either.

The registry hives are, as far as I can tell, exactly the same as they were before. There's a tutorial somewhere on this site about fixing similar infinite reboot loops by doing that. The recent pending changes appears to have had no effect, as the things that I reverted have all returned to pending. The first thing I thought about was doing a system restore, but for some reason I didn't have any restore points.

The exact error from startup repair is "unspecified action to system configuration might have caused the problem. Repair action: system files integrity check and repair. Result: failed. Error code=0xa" this is the same error as when I first ran start up repair immediately after I discovered the loop.

"I have had no luck" is a pretty clear way of saying nothing I have tried has worked or produced any noticeable change in what is happening.

Kaktussoft said:

windows repair disk->recovery options. Select your win7 install. Select "system restore". Go back in time prior to problems began. Successfully? If not... what error message?

"No restore points have been created on your system"

I swear I've seen and even used system restore points before, so I have no idea what happened here.

VinnyBuxton said:

Can you try opening Command Prompt again and type the following:
dism.exe /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions

I have done this before, but I'll try it again.

After attempting the computer continued its looping with no noticeable changes.