"Poppy" <popybear@optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:CE0ABD48-77AC-41FA-8B6C-A8C3D76D9073@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> Here is a warning to those with Attansic L1 Gigabit network controller
> chips on their motherboard, such as ASUS P5N-E.
>
> Do NOT, repeat NOT, install the recommended network adapter driver from
> Microsoft Update. The recommended hardware driver appears with a different
> manufacturer name, not Attansic. (sorry I can't remember).
>
> If you download and install the recommended hardware driver, Vista will no
> longer boot normally. It hangs while the scrolling bar is on screen.
> Because other things were downloaded at the same time onto my PC, it took
> much time and fiddling to figure out the cause. Vista would boot into Safe
> Mode OK. Control panel revealed nothing amiss. The clue was the failed
> attempt to boot into Safe Mode with Networking. This suggested that the
> updated network chip driver was the cause.
>
> Removing the driver while in Safe Mode did NOT solve the problem for me
> because Vista seemed to reload the wrong driver ?from backup, upon
> attempted normal reboot. Because of the mess I had made to identify the
> problem, I needed to do a clean install to recover. Downloading and
> permitting an install of hardware driver from MS Update reproduced the
> same noboot problem. This time it was possible to recover to a last known
> good state because I had a very recent good state to go back to.
>
> I suggest hiding this particular update if it is recommended for your PC.[/color]

Thanks very much for the report, as I have a PC for which that driver update
is recommended.
I have adopted a policy of *never* updating *any* drivers through WU, and
your experience leads me to recommend my "policy" to others :)