I've had to do those bits in the Hive when a sfc was pending for me but that was on a Win 7 machine, so they could be a little different in Vista and may need adapting.
I have an ISO for Vista x64 which includes SP2 - so if your son is able to do a repair install or a clean install, then either should resolve the problems - but if he needs a new disk, then just give me a shout and I'll burn you a couple.
