A botched Windows Update won't let me back into Windows, nor even Safe Mode. HELP?

When I get to the login screen, I get a pop-up that says:

LogonUI.exe - Bad Image

C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.6001.18175_none_9e7bbe54c9c04bca\gdiplus.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support.

The same thing pops up when I get to Safe Mode. After pressing "OK" or "X," it won't let me log in at all.

This happened after Windows Update downloaded something and restarted my computer to install it.

Now, when I F8'd the start-up process, I selected "Last Known Good Configuration (Advanced)," but that still failed to get me into Windows.

I tried "Repair Your Computer," and went to "Startup Repair." The first attempt, it said it was repairing errors, and that it would take over an hour to complete. I patiently napped and restarted when it was done. Same error on startup.

I went to System Restore. First off, it took several minutes to show the restore window. (Why?) There are numerous Restore points. When I chose the 2nd-to-top one (as the top one was the point that caused this failure,) it ran a while, then it gave me an error pop-up:

"System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer's system files and settings were not changed.

Details:

System Restore failed due to an unspecified error.

Catastrophic failure (0x8000FFFF)

I'm now trying the 7th-latest restore point down the list, and will keep trying until I hit the oldest restore point. I'm sure they'll all give me the same failure message.

 

During the system diagnostics utility, I was giving my system a hard drive read test, and I got error code 0F00:0244 and Msg. Block 52582359: Uncorrectable data error or media is write protected. What does this mean to you?

Update: Another error code from the same test: 0F00:0244 and Msg. Block 326512629, but other than that, same message. Now I have another one from Block 326527309, 326528209, 326529109, 449914876, 449914877, . I think Msg. Blocks don't matter as much as error codes do, right? (Note: There are 488,397,167 possible blocks.)

Update 2: Errors from my main hard drive Verify Test- Code: 0F00:1A44, Msg. Block 52582359: Uncorrectable data error or media is write protected. More message blocks: 326512629, 326527309, 326528255, 449914876, 449914877,

Update 3: More errors from the Express Test (Confidence Test) - Code: 0F00:131B, Msg. Block 810: Flaw in media or an error in the recorded data. If this is a removable media device, retry the test with different media (Unrecovered read error). More message blocks: 833, 858, 861, 872, 903, 915, 942, 954, 965, 977, 990, 1004, 1016, 1025, 1028, 1064, 1103, 1112, 1142, 1169, 1196, 1199, 1219, 1222, 1247, 1258, 1301, 1315, 1340, 1377, 1390, 1402, 1417, 1420, 1447, 1482, 1495, 1509, 1534, 1536, 1561, 1588, 1591, 1614, 1650, 1653, 1668, 1680, 1693. (There are more, but I'll stop after listing 50 message blocks and abort to the next express test.)

Update 4: During the S.M.A.R.T. Short Self Test, there's another error: Code 0F00:065D - Msg: IDE device failed: The self-test failed the read portion of the test.

 

So ultimately, how do I get this computer working again somehow without re-imaging/reformatting the system to factory condition?

Also, Windows 7 Upgrade is arriving in a few days. (Although I prefer to get back to work on my laptop before then.) Once I have Windows 7, how do I install it without the ability to log into Windows?

Finally, after seeing all these errors, if you understand each of them, do you know whether installing Windows 7 will solve them once and for all, or that these errors will botch even the installation of Windows 7?

Thanks in advance, you all.

-ENG