Windows 7 Updates causes restart to fail

I've got a multitude of issues really. It's getting to crunch time in Uni in terms of papers/projects etc and I really didn't need this. I upgraded (not a clean install) to Windows 7 about a month ago and it's been working very well. That said, there was a problem restarting last time my laptop installed the Windows 7 automatic updates - it wouldn't startup (would just flash a blue screen after the splash then restart) and went to startup repair. I had to do a system restore to a few days before and then everything was fine.

I rarely turn off my PC so maybe this has caused a problem, but this time after the update during the night while I was asleep, the same problem arised, except none of the restore points worked, even as far back as the 16th of February. I've tried to open it into safe mode but it stops on windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys, flashes the BSoD (a very quick flash) then restarts.

Just to clarify I can load the system recovery options (command prompt, system restore etc) but nothing beyond that really and I'm at a loss as to what to do.

I've burned Ubuntu and the Windows 7 recovery discs from another laptop if that's of any relevance.

It's a Sony Vaio VGN-NR38E and the specs are:
2gb RAM
1.86GHz Dual core
160gb
Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit

Please could someone help me out, I've never had a problem this big (isit big?) with a PC before.

Additional info:
I disabled the automatic restart and this is the message I got on the blue screen:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0x80786B58, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000

I tried running Chkdsk/f but I get this message:

The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.
Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.

See this article STOP 0x0000007B - STOP 0x7B INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE - Fix STOP Error 0x0000007B,surly not good news for you
If you have warranty I strong recommend contact with manufacturer support.

Have you tried running a repair install from your Windows disc?

What's happening with your system restore? Is it just not completing successfully?

Flavius said:

See this article STOP 0x0000007B - STOP 0x7B INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE - Fix STOP Error 0x0000007B,surly not good news for you
If you have warranty I strong recommend contact with manufacturer support.

Unfortunately I'm about 3 months past my warranty. I may still contact Sony though.

Thanks for the links too. It still seems though that I need to run chkdsk which is protected as it says in the OP.

electrotune1200 said:

Have you tried running a repair install from your Windows disc?

What's happening with your system restore? Is it just not completing successfully?

How do I boot a disc on a PC which won't go past the splash screen? Genuine question because I don't have a clue.

The system restore just isn't completing successfully no. I tried a March 6th, Feb 26th and Feb 16th and they all failed unfortunately.

The article linked by Flavius pretty much covers all possibilities. But just try step 8 first- get into your bios settings and change SATA/AHCI to IDE/ATA. Then reboot.

Bill2 said:

The article linked by Flavius pretty much covers all possibilities. But just try step 8 first- get into your bios settings and change SATA/AHCI to IDE/ATA. Then reboot.

Thanks for the advice. I want to change sata/ahci but I can't find this option in the bios. It's not under main, advanced, security or boot. Or maybe I'm just not looking hard enough...:S