Win 8 update stuck

[MobileTechie]

I've an acer aspire netbook in which appears to be stuck in a never-ending update error. On boot you get the message "Preparing to configure Windows. Don't turn off your computer" - a full day of this changes nothing

I've tried:

All 5 system restore points that are available - none complete, with an error saying a particular (unnamed) file is unavailable)
Renaming pending.xml
using the DISM cleanup-image restore health command which completes fine but does not help

I was hoping not to have to refresh windows - so any other ideas?

The only other thing I'm thinking is to manually restore the reg files.

FYI, disk, memory and file system check out just fine

 

[MobileTechie]

Oh great......now it's just died on the bench! :-(

No pop, no smoke, just turned itself off and now zero response, no charging lights, no fan, nothing.

 

[Martyn]

Oh great......now it's just died on the bench! :-(

No pop, no smoke, just turned itself off and now zero response, no charging lights, no fan, nothing.

PSU?

 

[ohio_grad_06]

If you have a universal laptop charger try that.

 

[MobileTechie]

No it's dead unfortunately.

 

[freedomit]

I'm sure you have tried already but take battery and power out, hold down power button for 30 seconds and the try again on mains