A very angry, frustrated man...

YOU MAY JUST SAVE A LAPTOP BEING THROWN OUT OF A WINDOW!

Hi I recently upgraded my M17XR3 to a 680m card. flashed vbios, installed the driver with the new.inf file etc
Recently some windows updates failed to install on my laptop and I'm now stuck with a corrupt installshield program. The installation starts, asks me to restart the computer, i do, the computer starts to configure the updates, fails and reverts back.

I keep getting the error Unhandled Exception code 0x80040708 "The Server Threw An Exception" when I try to install Assassins Creed 3 from Uplay on my computer.
I also get this error when I try to install Street Fighter X Tekken too.

When I look at the windows update errors I get the code 8007054F.

Googling both of these it becomes apparent that These updates mess with your computer set up.

The AC3 error seems to have a link with the permissions for programs but I have full permissions on everything as I'm the owner and administrator. I can't update the windows updates either as they fail every time too. It seems that I'm not having much luck in finding out what the problem is.
I recently tried to change the TEMP and TMP location for the updates but that didn't work either. CCleaner didn't change anything. I tried to repair Windows 7 x64 with the installation disc but that failed as well. Tried turning off all security programs and uninstalled a few too.

Tried many fix it programs on windows repair site but those failed to commence as well shutting down straight away.

I tried to install another game in my library and The Darkness 2 installed fine, worked without any issues what so ever. It did not use InstallShield so it's something to do with that.

I tried to change permissions on my computer but that didn't help either.

Tried installing in safe mode but that came back with the same error code.

Can't roll back to previous time because it says there are no previous back ups.

UAC set to lowest.

Why won't this bloomin' work?
I really do need some advice on this as trolling through forum after forum for 3 days straight has amounted to nothing so far.

I really don't want to try and reinstall all the windows, drivers, settings, games, game saves, add ons, Custom Vbios, Graphics drivers and applications all again. Don't think I have it in me again.

Can this be Fixed?!

yours truly annoyed
Billy.

M17XR3, custom Vbios, Nvidia 680M, 260GB SSD, 250GB HDD, 16GB RAM, Windows 7 x64.

 

Howdy Bill. That is a big issue you got there. If the install shield has become corrupt, you can try the methods listed in this Windows help article (the fix it myself methods). Microsoft Games: InstallShield Error Messages. Unfortunately, if those methods don't work, the only way to restore it is to do a clean install of windows. I know, it sucks. But a clean install is the only sure fire way to fix whatever is causing Install shield to bang its head.

 

can i reinstall without losing everything?

 

If you use Steam and have it installed in another partition/ HDD, then yes.

The thing is when you reinstall your Windows, you have an option to format your HDD or not. If you don't format, Windows will install a new OS on top of the old one. You will see a new folder named Windows.old in C: which is your old Windows OS. So as far as I know, the Programs Files folder shouldn't be touched. But that I'm not sure.

And even if the Programs Files folder stay the same, you still have to deal with the registry mess.

 

Yes I would recommend doing a clean install. Installing over the old one will make your OS a mess and it can cause other problems. I would just backup the steam folder and other important stuff on an external harddriv (never hurts to buy a new usb3.0 one), do a clean install and have it over with.

 

I know reinstalling Windows 7 and all your programs is a pain, but it gives you the opportunity to install your games one-by-one and check each one afterwards to make sure it installed properly and runs like it should. You may find it was a game that modified the InstallShield and caused all those issues.

 

I just offered the OP another option besides a fresh installation since the OP is very aware of that solution. Oh well the OP just reminded me I need to backup my C:\ this month....