Vista - Catastrophe: x64 sp1 Business OEM - Looping Update

I recently built a brand new computer, all new hardware. I installed vista business x64 sp1 OEM (just to be clear, sp1 is included in this version, so I'm not trying to update TO sp1) without a problem and everything ran great. While I was getting accustomed to vista, it was background downloading updates automatically, and then it auto installed them. Naturally, vista then asked me to restart to finish installation, which I did. Heres where things went south.

After rebooting, and trying to finish installation, something must have gone wrong because I was presented a screen saying:

"Updates were not configured correctly. reverting changes. Do not shutdown."

Followed soon afterwards by:

"Shutting Down"

The computer then proceeded to reboot and go back to the exact same screen, shutdown, and loop. I let it do this for an hour before I just powered down. So, I reformatted the partition, checked for hdd errors, of which there were none, and reinstall vista. This time I was careful to not let it install the updates, but somehow it managed to anyways while I slept, and again the updates were not configured correctly and it did the shutting down loop all night. It was not a pleasant surprise when I woke up and now Im going to have to spend a few hour reinstalling vista, all my drivers, and software...again.

So, I have two options/queries
1: I need to know how to prevent vista from auto downloading updates and installing them.
-or-
2: I need to know what I can do to fix this problem with updates that vista installs and configures without any input from me, so the computer doesnt fall into the reboot loop.

Thanks for any help.

Hi, JRSytus, and welcome to the forums.

Take a look at Windows Update - Windows Automatic Updating for the first issue.

For the second issue, you need to *manually* install Updates one by one until you can figure out which Update is causing you issues. Also, did you (or someone else) make this slipstreamed P1 disc, or is it straight from M$?

Thanks for the link, Ill use that method as a last resort.

Manually updating 1-by-1 for 20 or so updates sounds less than fun, but if its the only method of identifying the culprit, I'll do it.

The disc is straight from MS.

K.

Just to think about it - unless you change the settings for Automatic Updates it is going to automatically update. There is no real way to prevent it (unless you power down your Internet connection / machine itself).

Also, when you say the disc is straight from M$, is it from MSDN / TechNet? If so, did you get the checked and debugged version? If so hose it - that same disc has been the culprit of many installation woes and post installation nightmares.

Ignore looking for a checked and debugged build and get the regular build.

Of course, if this is not from the MSDN then ignore what I just said.

I hear you about the auto update, galt. I think I will be turning it off either way now and then manually updating what I need to in the future.

I don't know if the disc is from msdn/technet. Where would I check for that? Everything on the case and dvd itself simply states MS and OEM System Builder Pack. This is the exact product I ordered: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1 64-bit English 1pk for System Builders DSP OEI DVD - Operating Systems

OK, then it is safe to assume it is not the Checked and Debugged build and you can ignore that part of my post.

I've gone through all the updates manually now, hid the ones I didn't want/need, and installed all the ones I did. Two of the 15ish I did install failed, however their failing did not cause the looping I had experienced before.

I'm now up to date and running smoothly. Thanks for the advice, galt.