I have installed Windows 7 Ultimate a week ago. Yesterday I've noticed that the SP1 update is available. After installation of SP1 the computer failed to startup, and had shown a black screen. I couldn't even go to safe mode and F8 didn't help.
After some fixing attempts including system restore, startup repair, bootmgr & BCD rebuilding from CMD, I have decided to reinstall Windows (after all, it's only a week old)
After the successful installation, I have decided to first install all available updates before I continue. So after the updates download & installation, the computer rebooted. And now I didn't see the black screen again - but in the "Starting Windows..." screen the logo didn't appear and the system didn't startup. Here I could go to safe mode selection window, but it didn't work either ("Loading Windows Files" but nothing).
I've also tried:
I thought that the CD was corrupted, so I've used a fresh new disk of Windows, tried x86 & x64 versions, the same symptoms, no change.
Resetted the BIOS to default, no change.
Memory diagnostic
HDD diagnostic
Restarted Windows WITHOUT INSTALLING UPDATES, but it had the same symptom, so maybe Windows Update is not the case?!
I've tried installing it so many times - that I am simply stuck - I can't "reinstall Windows, because it is corrupted...". Maybe the HDD is corrupted? I've also checked it and didn't find a problem.