Windows 7: Can't boot after patch update

I built a computer about a month ago and it worked fine until last week when I started seeing errors such as xxx.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. I was not able to get rid of the errors and thought that the computer had a virus. I was using CA Internet Security as it was provided free of charge by my Internet Service Provider. It all went downhill after that as the computer would no longer boot. I tried running the Start up Recovery to no avail. It said that it could not repair the problem.

Since I could not recover from the problems, I reinstalled Windows. I did not do a clean install, rather it moved my personal files from the old windows installation to a folder named Windowsold. The computer worked fine until I rebooted it after installing the video driver. Same problems as before - Start up Recovery could not resolve the issue. I started with a command prompt and noticed that the C drive was empty and Windows 7 was installed on the D drive. I don't understand how that happened because I did not tell Windows which drive letter to use during installation, nor does it even ask for that information.

I then did a clean install by deleting the two partitions (100MB system on partition 1 and the rest of my drive on partition 2). I installed the mother board drivers, video drivers, and purchased Norton 360 and Norton Utilities. I checked in Windows Explorer for the drive that Windows was installed on. It was installed on the C drive. The computer rebooted fine all day and I thought the problems were resolved once and for all.

Uh, not quite. I could not boot the computer this morning after Windows did an update at 3:00 am last night. I booted using Start up Recovery, opened a command window, and lo and behold, the C drive was empty and Windows was once again in the D drive.

Does anyone know what is causing this strange behavior? Norton scanned my drive and found no problems.

Thank you!

Wow, that is strange. Can you boot again and make a screen shot of the Disk Management and post here. That might be a good place to start.

Thanks for your reply, bigmck. The computer will not boot into Windows right now. When I boot, a message is displayed that Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically. When I close that window, the options are View diagnostic and repair details and View advanced options for system recovery and support. The diagnostic and repair details says:

System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0
Windows directory = D:\Windows
AutoChk Run = 0
Number of root causes = 1

Then there are several tests performed that passed. Further down, it says Root cause found: A patch is preventing the system from starting.

Repair action: System files integrity check and repair
Result: Failed. Error code = 0x2
Time taken = 3244 ms

Then way at the bottom it says Boot status indicates that the OS booted successfully.

If I select View advanced options for system recovery and support, I get the following choices after selecting the country, time, etc:

Startup Repair
System Restore
System Image Recovery
Windows Memory Diagnostic
Command Prompt

I tried to do a restore, but Windows did not save a restore point before doing the update last night. I will have to check the settings when I get the computer running again to make sure that it creates a Restore point before every automatic update.

Do you know a way to get the Disk Management information from where I am or will I need to reinstall Windows yet again?

Thank you,

You Wrote == "Uh, not quite. I could not boot the computer this morning after Windows did an update at 3:00 am last night. I booted using Start up Recovery, opened a command window, and lo and behold, the C drive was empty and Windows was once again in the D drive."

Don't reinstall Windows yet. -- Can you boot like you did above and get to Disk Management? == PS - Is there any Restore Point saved? Even if it is very old, give it a try.

Sorry, I didn't explain well. I was not able to boot Windows. I opened a command prompt through the advanced options for system recovery and support link. The only thing visible at that point was a command window where I can enter DOS commands. I typed dir c: and the disk was empty. I typed dir d: and all the windows files were there. I could not figure out how to recover from this so I reinstalled Windows once again. I installed the motherboard drivers, Norton 360, and the video drivers. Windows installed three updates. I rebooted and the system came up fine and Windows is installed on the C drive. I downloaded 52 recommended/important updates. It failed on two updates. The computer would not boot but I was able to boot by going back to a Restore point. Then I ran a full scan with Norton. It found only 14 tracking cookies, which I removed. Norton said the computer needed to reboot. I checked in Disk Management to make sure that Windows was installed on C before rebooting. The computer will not boot again. I went to Startup recovery and opened a command prompt. The C drive is empty and Windows is once again on the D drive. The D:\Windows\system folder is empty. I can't help but think there's a very aggressive virus on the hard drive, but why can't Norton detect it and why doesn't a clean install get rid of it?

Any ideas? I am getting frustrated.

Thanks,