Security Center can't open

I know this is long, but I REALLY need help! I am running Vista Home Premium.
About a week ago it stopped working correctly. I can't really tell what
happend, but here is what I know:

1. There was an update that started and I stopped it.
2. I was on a hotel unsecured wireless network at the time.

Here's what's happening:

1. The computer will now start in both normal and safe mode, but the
wireless or wired networks will not work except in safe mode.
2. I can not open most programs in normal mode including services in control
panel, etc.

3. In normal mode the computer locks up after several mintues.

4. When it starts in safe mode it says the security center is turned off.
When I try to open it is says it can not be opened.

5. In normal mode when you click on the network connector it "thinks" for
several minutes then says Diagnostic Policy Service is not running and to
click the bubble. When I click the bubble it freezes.



I have tried:

1. In safe mode I have made several changes to the services in control
panels, but it does not seem to carry over to normal mode.

2.Again in safe mode I tried downloading and installing Vista SP1. This was
a disaster. The computer would not load it (althoguht it tried for several
hours. Now every time it restarts it says that the Service Pack did not
install and it is reverting it back. It takes it over 3 hours to start up!

3. Acer's have a partition drive and they activate it with alt and F10. I
have tried this and nothing happens. They also have a eRecovery system to
restore the computer back to facotry. That seems the be missing now.

4.I have changed DPS and Security Center to automatic (in safe mode) this
seems to have made no difference.

5. Windows Live One Care stopped working (that was the first thing I noticed
was wrong). I uninstalled it and tried to reinstall it. It can not install in
safe mode and the computer freezes when I try to install it in normal mode.



I am not really sure if all of these problems are connected or not.I don't
know what else to try short of throwing it out the window -- which is not far
from happening!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Click the start orb, type:
devmgmt.msc
Open the Properties of the Ethernet card, and us the Action menu to
'uninstall'
(be sure the 'delete drive' checkbox in UNchecked)
, then action menu, 'scan for hardware changes.' Restart and try it.

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Mark L. Ferguson
..

"Beth D." <Beth D.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news012B897-70A7-41F8-9E40-364D9E4344F1@microsoft.com...
> I know this is long, but I REALLY need help! I am running Vista Home
> Premium.
> About a week ago it stopped working correctly. I can't really tell what
> happend, but here is what I know:
>
> 1. There was an update that started and I stopped it.
> 2. I was on a hotel unsecured wireless network at the time.
>
> Here's what's happening:
>
> 1. The computer will now start in both normal and safe mode, but the
> wireless or wired networks will not work except in safe mode.
> 2. I can not open most programs in normal mode including services in
> control
> panel, etc.
>
> 3. In normal mode the computer locks up after several mintues.
>
> 4. When it starts in safe mode it says the security center is turned off.
> When I try to open it is says it can not be opened.
>
> 5. In normal mode when you click on the network connector it "thinks" for
> several minutes then says Diagnostic Policy Service is not running and to
> click the bubble. When I click the bubble it freezes.
>
>
>
> I have tried:
>
> 1. In safe mode I have made several changes to the services in control
> panels, but it does not seem to carry over to normal mode.
>
> 2.Again in safe mode I tried downloading and installing Vista SP1. This
> was
> a disaster. The computer would not load it (althoguht it tried for several
> hours. Now every time it restarts it says that the Service Pack did not
> install and it is reverting it back. It takes it over 3 hours to start up!
>
> 3. Acer's have a partition drive and they activate it with alt and F10. I
> have tried this and nothing happens. They also have a eRecovery system to
> restore the computer back to facotry. That seems the be missing now.
>
> 4.I have changed DPS and Security Center to automatic (in safe mode) this
> seems to have made no difference.
>
> 5. Windows Live One Care stopped working (that was the first thing I
> noticed
> was wrong). I uninstalled it and tried to reinstall it. It can not install
> in
> safe mode and the computer freezes when I try to install it in normal
> mode.
>
>
>
> I am not really sure if all of these problems are connected or not.I don't
> know what else to try short of throwing it out the window -- which is not
> far
> from happening!
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated!
>

I have excatly the same scenario as Beth describes, even down to having been connected to an un-secured hotel network connection the last time I was able to use the laptop successfully and the first symptom I spotted was the Windows Live OneCare could not start message.

As I was unsure whether Mark's instructions needed to be followed in Safe Mode or Normal mode, I tried in Safe Mode first which I was able to complete OK. However, once I rebooted and went into normal mode, the problem had not been resolved and trying to run devmgmt.msc just locked up the system just like the original problems.