Black SOD after Vista Updates on Satellite A205-S5804

Question

I have a Satellite A205-S5804 laptop running Vista Home Premium. It ran fine until an automatic update (about a month ago). Then I got the Black Screen Of Death during bootup (somewhere after the Vista starts to load but prior to the user logon). Took it to the Geek Squad who says it isn't hardware related (as my extended warranty only covers hardware). They claimed it is a corrupted OS. I think they are correct about it not being hardware since I can get it to go to Safe Mode. Restore didn't work. I acquired a copy of Vista Home Premium and attempted to run repair but that didn't correct the problem. Next I reloaded it. Everything ran great like it is suppposed to. But the automatic update downloaded and installed the 92 or so Vista updates that it supposedly needs since the Vista disk was produced. Now the problem is back. I can get to Safe Mode, into the BIOS and just about everything else except I cannot get it to boot normally without black-screening before the login to user prompt. I have hooked an external monitor up and when the laptop blacks out the external monitor reports no signal. I suspect there is an issue with a Vista update (which one I do not know). I have already backed up the data I want to save and have that on another computer. Any suggestions other than to reload Vista and not ever acquire any updates? Is there a setting in the BIOS or a "fix" to the Vista update? I tried searching for hours on this issue and have not found a solution. Thanks for any help or suggestions from other Toshiba users.

Answer 1

 Restore didn't work. 
What does that mean?
It means that when I selected an earlier restore point (prior to when I suspect the Vista update downloaded and installed) the black screen issue remained. At none of my restore points could I get the issue to go away or resolve itself.
I tried the Toshiba restore to out of the box, or at least I wanted to, however, following the manual instructions the laptop did not give me that option. I held down the 0 (zero) button and powered it on but it did not go into the Hard Drive Recovery mode. I suspect my model is not one of the ones that came with this option.
So, after taking the laptop to the Geek Squad originally after the problem appeared and verifying that I don't have a hardware problem and also trying the recommended methods for returning to a stable and fully functional computer, I purchased a legit copy of Vista Home Premium so that I could reload the operating system. Yes, I am realizing how much more difficult Vista is than XP. I have reloaded Vista from scratch. I registered the copy. I have downloaded and installed SP1. I am currently doing SP2. I am basically creating a clean machine with just an OS loaded. Once I am sure that it will function properly (no more blacking out) I will reload my programs and transfer my data back.
Tedious process...but it seems like my best option. And now that it is in progress there really isn't any point in trying anything else other than uninstalling any update(s) after I reach a stable point that may be causing the screen to black out. If and when I reach that point again I will visit Microsoft to see what assistance I can get for any Windows Updates that I can identify as being troublesome.
I really appreciate everyone's input and suggestions. I was hopeful that it would be something as simple as an outdated driver or something along those lines. However, as much as I have searched, I have not found anyone who has had the exact same problem and there doesn't seem to be an easy cure. I will keep you posted on my success or failure with the method I have chosen. Thanks again.