Windows failed to start a recent hardware or software change might be the cause

Another computer problem with Microsoft Windows operating system. This time most likely with Microsoft Windows seven operating system. Below is the original question quoted verbatim.

“Asus My laptop will not restart. Message is “Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause…””

This individual did not know what operating system this computer had installed. This to me is an amazing lack of computer literacy. Anyways, they claimed they owned this Asus laptop computer for five years.

Most likely this individual owned an Asus computer with Microsoft Windows seven operating system installed. Also, this laptop did not come with a digital video disc drive nor did it include a slot for it. You can turn off that laptop by powering it off.

You can remove the battery and all external devices, for example any universal serial bus printer, external hard drive, flash drive, etc. You can disconnect the power cable from both wall outlet and laptop. Now you will want to press and hold the power button for one minute.

You can plug the power cable back into wall outlet and laptop. Now power on that computer to see if Microsoft Windows operating system will boot properly. If your computer laptop battery is underneath a cover, you can skip that portion of the instructions and follow the rest.

If clearing potential electric static discharge or some funky Microsoft Window operating system hardware problem, was not fixed, then you can power off your computer. You will want to power it back on and immediately start tapping your F8 function key until an advanced boot options menu opens. You can make certain to start pressing your F8 function key before Microsoft Windows seven operating system tries to boot.

You can choose “Last known good configuration” from that advanced boot options menu. If that does not work then you can try “Safe mode”, “Safe mode with networking” or “Safe mode with command prompt” from that same advanced boot options menu. If your computer is able to boot into any of the safe mode options, your problem is not necessarily fixed.

You could then try to boot into normal mode Microsoft Windows operating system mode. If you still receive that albatross of an error, then try booting into Microsoft Windows operating system safe mode again. This time you will want to perform some system scans.

You can perform a malware, spyware, virus, system file check, and check disk scan. Also, you can perform a spyware scan on Microsoft Windows seven operating system with the free already installed Microsoft Windows Defender software program. In order to perform a malware scan, you may want to download and install Emsisoft Emergency Kit and or Superantispyware.

There are a plethora of antivirus software available such as Avast, Anti-Virus Guard, Microsoft Security Essentials, etc. You certainly do not need to use those tools that I mentioned. Now you want to run a system file check with the following command.

sfc /scannow

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You need to type in this command into a command prompt with administrator rights. Finally, you can perform a check disk scan with the following command.

chkdsk c: /f /r

This is a comprehensive scan that can take hours and potentially days to complete on a corrupt or failing hard drive. There are five stages with the command I gave you. You need to type this command into a command prompt with administrator rights.

I normally run a system file check scan three times. I only run a check disk scan once, unless I receive an error or after running this scan Microsoft Windows operating system boots differently or I feel running the scan a second time may potentially fix this problem. If none of these scans do not fix your issue, you can open up "Device Manager" and see if there are any hardware devices with problems.

You can look for a red x or yellow exclamation point. Also, you can remove that problematic device in "Device Manager" and then clicking on a “Scan for hardware changes” tool. This should reload the driver for that device. If this does not fix your problem, you may need to download and reinstall the driver from the original equipment manufacture website.

Another potential way to fix this problem, is to perform a Microsoft Windows operating system restore. You would restore your computer back to before you were having this problem. Choose a recovery date back to before this error appeared.

You should not lose any of your important personal data. However, your programs that you installed after that recovery date will be removed. Finally, never interrupt a Microsoft Windows system restore while it is running.

If you are technology capable you could boot off of a Microsoft Windows seven compact disc or digital video disc and potentially fix your problem. If you search the Internet for “Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause“, you may find some additional ways to fix this problem, which are beyond the scope of this blog post. They would require command line expertise.

If you are not technology capable or just not in the mood to mess around in the command line, at the very least you could take your hard drive out of your laptop and recover your data by installing it into a second computer. However, this might not be your cup of tea, so when all else fails, take it to a computer technician widely known as a computer repair individual. At the very least, they will be able to recover your data.

Also, they might be able to fix this problem. If not, they could reinstall the Microsoft Windows seven operating system for you. They would just need the Microsoft Windows seven certificate of authenticity product key that is legible on a sticker on your Asus laptop computer.

These instructions were written for an Asus laptop computer with Microsoft Windows seven operating system, but certainly could be used as a basis point to troubleshoot other versions of Microsoft Windows operating system with a similar error and basically any computer hardware compatible with Microsoft Windows operating system.

How to Fix Windows Failed to Start a Recent Hardware or Software Change Might be the Cause Video Transcript

0:01

this is Aaron with anetcomputers.com with

0:05

another video for you

0:07

today the errors on screen it's kind of

0:10

lengthy One windows failed to start a

0:12

recent Hardware or software change might

0:14

be the cause so this video pertains to

0:17

how to fix Windows failed to start a

0:20

recent Hardware or software change might

0:21

be the cause there are some different

0:25

troubleshooting steps that I included

0:28

but

0:30

some of them or one of them may fix your

0:33

issue okay let's go over the original

0:37

request quoted

0:39

verbatim on

0:41

screen Asus my laptop will not restart

0:45

message is Windows failed to start a

0:48

recent Hardware or software change might

0:51

be the

0:52

cause and this they didn't know what

0:56

operating system they actually had

0:58

installed which was a bit perplexing to

1:00

me but

1:01

anyways they claimed that they owned

1:03

that Asus laptop for 5 years they had

1:07

Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System

1:10

installed that laptop did not come with

1:14

a optical drive so that's something that

1:18

you might become aware

1:20

of because you could not boot off of an

1:23

optical disc like or even the

1:26

installation disc and reinstall

1:28

Windows

1:30

so here's the troubleshooting steps you

1:33

can go ahead and turn off that laptop by

1:35

powering it off then you can remove the

1:39

battery and all external devices for

1:42

example Universal cobus printers

1:45

external hard drives flash drives Etc

1:47

then you want to disconnect the power

1:49

cable from both the wall outlet and your

1:53

laptop now you want to press and hold

1:56

the power button on your laptop for one

1:58

minute

2:00

if you have a desktop computer same

2:03

scenario even a tablet you could

2:05

say then you can go ahead and plug in

2:09

the power cable back into the W outlet

2:13

and your laptop computer or desktop

2:16

computer now you want to power on that

2:19

computer and see if Microsoft Windows 7

2:21

operating system will boot

2:25

properly now some of the more modern

2:28

laptops the

2:30

actual battery is inside the housing

2:34

inside the cover the case and if you

2:37

don't have much computer experience most

2:40

people would not never have a clue on

2:42

how to remove the battery just to let

2:44

you know back in the day you would just

2:46

have like a little button or a release

2:48

knob or you know what I'm saying and

2:50

then the battery would just fall right

2:52

out I don't know why compter

2:54

manufacturers started placing the

2:57

batteries inside but if if you're not

3:00

familiar with computer hardware then you

3:02

might have to take it to a computer

3:04

technician to get the battery

3:07

replaced or to to remove the battery but

3:10

or you could you another way you could

3:11

do it is you could discharge the battery

3:14

I would not recommend that you boot into

3:16

an operating system and

3:20

then let the com battery discharge that

3:23

way you could boot it into the BIOS if

3:25

you know what the basic input output

3:27

system is you could boot it in into the

3:30

BIOS and then just leave it there and

3:33

the bad when obviously disconnect the

3:35

power cable from the laptop and then let

3:38

the battery discharge that way okay

3:41

because sometimes Believe It or Not

3:43

sometimes a failing battery or a

3:47

discharging battery whatever you know

3:49

can cause these kind of issues

3:51

okay now what you want to

3:58

do

4:01

is you

4:04

could

4:06

perform clearing the electrostatic

4:08

discharge but that's actually what I

4:10

just told you I usually don't tell

4:12

people that because a lot of people

4:13

don't have no clue what you're talking

4:15

about ESD is an acronym but it stands

4:17

for electrostatic discharge or electric

4:21

static discharge you know what I'm

4:22

saying so that's what the steps I just

4:25

gave you also it could be some strange

4:27

Microsoft Windows operating system

4:28

problem now they if it didn't fix your

4:31

issue the troubleshooting steps I just

4:34

gave you then what you want to do is you

4:37

can power up your computer and then you

4:39

will want to power it back on and

4:41

immediately start pressing and tapping

4:45

the f8 function key until an advanced

4:48

boot option menu opens it's a black

4:50

screen with different options it's just

4:53

a menu of options that Microsoft

4:55

operating system

4:57

has now remember as soon as you power on

5:00

your computer before Microsoft Windows

5:02

tries to boot keep tapping just keep

5:06

pressing just click click click click

5:07

click the fa key you don't hold it down

5:10

you keep tapping it until the menu opens

5:12

if it opens if that menu opens the

5:16

advanced boot options menu you want to

5:18

select last known good

5:20

configuration and from that menu and

5:22

it'll it'll restore Microsoft Windows

5:25

back to its last no configuration if

5:28

that fixes your issue chances are that

5:30

might be it if that does not fix your

5:33

issue and it just will not boot and you

5:36

keep receiving that Windows failed to

5:38

start error what you can do is try the

5:42

other options in advanced boot options

5:44

which include safe mode with command

5:49

prompt safe mode with networking and

5:51

just safe

5:58

mode

6:00

all right let's see I'm just reading

6:04

here okay now if after using any of the

6:08

safe mode options and they

6:11

work

6:12

the safe mode safe mode with networking

6:15

safe mode with command prompt what you

6:17

can do is you can try to restart that

6:19

computer and see if all of a sudden

6:22

Microsoft Windows starts to function

6:24

normally just allow it to normal boot

6:25

don't go back into the f8 menu just

6:28

allow

6:30

the computer to restart the basic input

6:33

output system will display just don't

6:35

touch anything and Microsoft Windows

6:38

normal mode should try to boot that and

6:41

then if it does you chances are you

6:43

fixed your issue you know what I'm

6:51

saying now if you're still receiving

6:54

that Windows pil to start a recent you

6:56

know that lengthy error you're not the

6:59

at the beginning of this video and in my

7:02

blog

7:03

post then you can try to boot into

7:06

Windows Safe Mode now you're going to

7:10

perform some scans on the operating

7:14

system so you'll need to become a little

7:17

bit aware of command line you can or you

7:21

could yeah you could also try this you

7:23

could perform a malware sper virus

7:25

system file check and check this scans

7:26

all that some of them require a command

7:30

line you can use Microsoft Windows

7:33

Defender and run a full scan Microsoft

7:36

Windows Defender now I don't know about

7:39

Windows 7 I'm not sure I just do not

7:42

know if the more recent versions of of

7:45

Windows Defender will scan for malware

7:47

spyware and and adwar and you know what

7:50

I mean and viruses the older version I'm

7:54

not sure but just run a full scan

7:58

with Windows Defender because it's INB

8:00

built in or if you already have your own

8:02

antivirus installed you go ahead and use

8:04

that my point is that you want to run

8:06

some malware spyware virus scans just in

8:09

case that that's what's causing that

8:12

error now you do not have to use these

8:14

tools but these are my preferred

8:18

tools mssoft emergency kit and or super

8:23

antis power just a quick anecdotal

8:26

evidence sometimes m emergency kit now

8:30

it's been a few years but when I had my

8:32

own computer repair business I always

8:34

used moft emergency kit and super anti

8:37

Sprite Weare once on occasion super

8:39

anti-spyware would not detect everything

8:41

and and if the computer was really

8:44

infected and even super anti spare found

8:46

a lot of malware and spare and crap I

8:49

would go ahead and just use moft anyways

8:51

because on occasion moft would find

8:55

items that super anti-py did

8:58

not now as far as antivirus scans I'm

9:01

not sure if moft I haven't used it in a

9:04

while I'm not sure about super

9:05

antispyware I'm not sure if they also

9:08

scan for viruses now if if that program

9:12

or the program that use only scans for

9:15

malware and spyware but not viruses

9:17

there's plenty of antivirus you know

9:19

what I mean programs there's avast

9:22

antivirus guard did you know that avas

9:24

and Antivirus guard are owned by the

9:26

same

9:27

company yeah they merged so they're not

9:30

you know they're not competitors anymore

9:32

but well on the surface they are but

9:35

they're not they're owned by the same

9:37

company you could also use Microsoft

9:39

Security Essentials which is a does that

9:42

come

9:43

installed that may not be installed but

9:47

that one was a virus scan software

9:50

program and you can use any of them you

9:52

want there's all kinds you know what I'm

9:54

saying so when once you run malware

9:58

virus spyware scans and you're pretty

10:02

certain that there's and it may have

10:03

found some or you know it's not really

10:06

finding anything you could you know move

10:09

on to the next

10:10

step you're going to want to run two

10:13

file system checks now before I tell you

10:16

about these two file system checks that

10:18

are built into the Microsoft Windows

10:20

operating system if you ever need online

10:23

computer technical support you can ask a

10:25

computer techician now and solve your

10:27

computer problem I have partnered with

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a third-party company that has probably

10:35

hundreds at least I would say hundreds

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10:41

verified you can at your disposal

10:45

communicate with

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them over text chat real time text chat

10:52

SMS text Telephone video and they can

10:56

even remotely Connect into your computer

10:59

so if you're F now remotely they

11:02

couldn't well it depends on if you're

11:05

able to boot into Microsoft Windows safe

11:08

mode with

11:09

networking and browse the internet one

11:12

of their technicians could possibly

11:15

remotely Connect into your computer and

11:17

then perform the troubleshooting for

11:20

you in order to and you can get Tech

11:24

help 24 hours a day through 365 days a

11:27

year at my website aomp putter.com you

11:30

can just browse to incomputer

11:43

docomo back to this video there are two

11:48

system scans that a lot of people are

11:51

not aware of the first one is called sfc

11:54

which is an acronym which stands for

11:55

system file

11:57

check and here's the command that you on

12:01

screen highlighted that you would type

12:02

in to a command prompt sfc space SL scan

12:07

now now I don't recommend I never give

12:11

out advice I never guarantee anything

12:13

but here's a tip I usually run that more

12:15

than once because sometimes I find

12:18

that after running a sfc scan it may say

12:23

it fixed something or it may not and

12:25

then I'll try it two or three more times

12:27

and it may actually you know say it

12:29

fixes something it's kind of strange now

12:33

sfc scans can take a while so just be

12:35

patient but again it it you're going to

12:38

run that in a command prompt it has a

12:41

kind of a indicator it it just comes

12:43

back to the C prompt and just tells you

12:46

that the scan's complete but that's it's

12:48

a good tool you know what I'm saying

12:51

another tool that you can use to

12:53

possibly fix this just wretched long

12:56

error windows failed to start a recent

12:58

Hardware software blah blah blah you

13:00

know what I mean fail to

13:02

start is it check his scan and again add

13:06

a command prompt chk dsk space c colon

13:11

space slf space SLR now those you don't

13:16

really need to concern yourself but the

13:19

last two variables are basically a full

13:22

scan and there are five different steps

13:24

and you'll see it when you when you kick

13:26

off that scan it'll it'll it has a

13:30

progress indicator and it's five steps

13:33

and so you should see step one two 3

13:35

four five with you know a progress

13:37

indicator now they caveat mtor that kind

13:40

of a scan and since it's a full scan can

13:44

take hours believe it or not be it

13:47

depends on just many variables maybe

13:49

your hard drive is failing or or maybe

13:51

you have a lot of data or maybe Windows

13:54

is

13:54

corrupted so be patient you could just

13:58

probably leave it overnight and come

14:00

back the next day and check on it you

14:02

know what I'm saying no pun in that

14:03

wasn't a pun but I just realized I'm

14:06

like wait a minute I'm describing the

14:08

check disc tool and I just you know used

14:11

the word check but no that was not an

14:13

intentional punt you know what I'm

14:14

saying I wish it was an intentional pun

14:16

that would mean that wow that that was

14:18

just not bad but nope

14:21

okay again just going over how it's a

14:25

comprehensive scan it can take hours and

14:27

believe it or not you may not believe

14:29

this but I've had customers that brought

14:31

me a computer that were so [ __ ] up

14:34

that I kicked off a checked his scan and

14:37

it literally took days I don't know what

14:40

my record was I used to kind I didn't

14:42

like chot it down but maybe I should

14:44

have but no I just kind of mentally try

14:47

to remember I don't know a week I don't

14:49

know if I had any that were a couple

14:51

weeks I think I had my own one of my own

14:53

computers or a computer that I recycled

14:56

that I tried to salvage the operating

14:58

system that like took a couple of weeks

15:00

or something it may have been an older

15:02

computer that wasn't very fast you know

15:04

you know what I'm saying but whatever

15:06

yeah yes believe it or not it can

15:08

actually take days for a check this scan

15:09

so that's why you want to become patient

15:12

and also it it can potentially fixing

15:16

and I in that one I also another tip is

15:19

to run it more than once believe it or

15:21

not yes if your computer is really awful

15:25

and you're especially if you're trying

15:26

to fix this kind of an error you might

15:28

want to run it more than once you know

15:30

what I'm saying and and then I think I

15:33

have had computers that the sfc scans

15:36

and check disc scans yeah I've had

15:38

plenty that just didn't fix the issue

15:39

but it's worth a shot it's worth running

15:41

those tools now the the check disc scan

15:44

on screen the this one will actually

15:48

repair it'll try to repair any any you

15:52

know corruption or misconfigurations or

15:55

whatever it tries it looks for it you

15:57

know what I'm saying okay

15:59

anything further remember a command

16:02

prompt and you might have to type yeah

16:06

you need to type

16:08

in the second one I believe or maybe

16:12

both but I definitely think the second

16:14

one with administrator rights it may

16:17

give you an error if you don't if you

16:18

don't have administrator rights and I

16:20

already went over the five

16:23

stages okay yeah okay yeah here's some

16:27

more

16:29

description about the check this scan I

16:32

only run a check this scan once unless I

16:34

receive an error or after running the

16:36

scan Microsoft Windows operating system

16:38

boovs differently or I feel running the

16:40

second the scan a second time yes may

16:43

potentially fix a problem yep if the if

16:45

the computer's just awful and it won't

16:47

even boot right and sometimes I just go

16:51

ahead and run check this twice back to

16:53

back that otherwise I'll just reboot it

16:55

and then it depends on now if it takes a

16:58

couple of

16:59

weeks n I'm too impatient for that I

17:02

would try to boot it first and see if

17:04

the check do fixed the problem

17:08

okay now this would be obviously if

17:11

you're able to boot into any of the safe

17:13

modes the [ __ ] the safe mode safe mode

17:16

networking and what was the other one

17:18

what whatever there's what three

17:19

different safe modes okay you can go

17:22

into device manager and see if there are

17:24

any hardware devices with any proos you

17:27

can look for a red X or a yellow

17:29

exclamation point in Microsoft Windows

17:32

device manager if you see the Red X or

17:34

yellow that's usually not a good good

17:36

sign you know especially a red X a red X

17:39

means like the driver is either disabled

17:42

or might not even be loaded or whatever

17:44

but that's but that's a way that you can

17:49

troubleshoot now what you can try is if

17:52

you see any red X's or any exclamation

17:55

points you you can rightclick the device

17:59

that has a red X or exclamation point

18:01

and then choose remove what it will do

18:04

is it will remove it's supposed to

18:05

remove the driver from it could be the

18:07

driver that's corrupt that's causing

18:08

your problem believe it or not and so

18:10

you're removing it from the operating

18:11

system and the device manager has a

18:14

little tool it's like a little hour

18:16

class look for it and it's also named

18:19

scan for Hardware changes so if you

18:22

remove the

18:23

driver or that

18:25

device and then it disappears go ahead

18:28

and scan that we don't have to restart

18:30

the computer when it scans for Hardware

18:32

changes it should find that device again

18:35

and it should load that driver again

18:37

hopefully and hopefully it'll load a

18:38

driver that's not corrupt but yeah yeah

18:41

Microsoft is corrupt no doubt about it

18:43

Microsoft Corporation is just another

18:46

corporation that is corrupt I mean but

18:48

no the operating system yes it the

18:50

drivers get corrupt Hardware devices get

18:52

corrupt in in Microsoft Windows that's

18:54

just a fact you know what I'm

18:57

saying

19:01

now if that doesn't fix the driver issue

19:05

you could potentially download and and

19:07

reinstall the driver from the original

19:09

you know equipment manufacturer let's

19:11

say it's a video card that's with a

19:13

driver that's corrupt you it's an Nvidia

19:15

you could browse nvidia's website and

19:17

download it and then what on a flash

19:19

drive and then mount it on the Microsoft

19:22

Windows 7 or whatever Microsoft Windows

19:24

operating system and then manually

19:26

install it you know what I'm saying or

19:27

it may have an installer may have a

19:29

setup that exe or install at xia and

19:31

then it could be the Microsoft driver or

19:34

it could even be the the Nvidia driver

19:36

as an example that became corrupt so

19:38

what you're doing is you're installing a

19:40

newer one hopefully you'll download the

19:42

most recent version or a newer version

19:44

or just a version that's not corrupt

19:47

okay anything further now this is a

19:50

longer video but that's okay because

19:52

this is a ugly the windows failed to

19:54

start a recent Hardware software and

19:55

change might be the cause is an ugly

19:57

error it really is

20:01

you could try a system remember earlier

20:04

in this video I told you that this

20:06

laptop did not have an optical drive

20:08

therefore back then I don't think you

20:11

Universal

20:13

cobus well maybe it was anyways let's

20:16

digress away from that you're not going

20:18

to be able to boot off of a compact disc

20:21

or a digital video disc and you know re

20:24

reinstall the operating system is what

20:27

I'm trying to tell you not not with an

20:28

optical disc what you could try is a

20:31

system recovery Microsoft Windows has a

20:33

system recovery

20:35

tool okay let's try to move along

20:39

here you won't you shouldn't lose any of

20:41

your personal data what you want to do

20:44

is choose a restore point back to before

20:47

you were having this problem you want to

20:49

choose a recovery date back

20:51

before that ugly Windows failed to start

20:54

a recent Hardware software change might

20:56

be the cause okay

20:59

now if you have any computer programs

21:01

that you installed since that time they

21:03

will get removed it it it is an image

21:08

and it restores the image back to before

21:10

you had that problem so if you install

21:12

software since then it will get removed

21:14

all

21:20

right and never interrupt a Microsoft

21:22

system restart just don't even don't

21:24

even think about un because well I mean

21:27

you know you're you're already in a

21:28

quagmire but you could potentially make

21:31

things worse and let's say it's a it's a

21:33

issue that wasn't all that

21:35

bad well either way you could

21:37

potentially cause Microsoft when

21:40

operating system not to boot at all not

21:42

like you can't even boot it into safe

21:44

mode yes yes yes so never interrupt a

21:47

system restore do not reboot do not

21:50

power off do not disconnect the power

21:51

cable they can take a while but just

21:54

allow it to

21:57

complete

22:01

now if you had an external optical drive

22:04

or an external digital video disc drive

22:07

you could potentially fix a problem

22:11

yes yeah there are some additional ways

22:13

to fix this problem so you could perform

22:15

a search for Windows failed to start a

22:17

recent Hardware software change might be

22:19

the cause but I gave you quite a few

22:21

tips you know what I mean yeah some of

22:24

them are just holy you know what I'm

22:27

saying requ cars command line and they

22:29

want you to there could be a a system

22:32

file or yeah they get they get ugly

22:35

whereas me I'm like nah especially back

22:38

when I had a computer repair business

22:42

uhoh I just received a message saying

22:48

that that OBS Studio disconnected and is

22:52

reconnecting it says reconnection

22:54

successful I don't know what that's

22:55

about okay maybe I need to run so that I

22:58

can you know finish this

23:03

video no there's something weird going

23:05

on here yeah let's wrap this dude quit

23:07

quit [ __ ] bothering me okay that's it

23:11

I think that's enough right now you know

23:12

what I mean these instructions were

23:14

written for an acus laptop computer with

23:16

Microsoft Windows 7 operating system

23:18

however you could use the

23:20

troubleshooting steps in this video as a

23:23

basis for other Microsoft operating

23:26

systems you can always browse to ancoms

23:29

outcom to fix your most common computer

23:32

problems also you can find out the other

23:34

platforms I'm available I'm available on

23:36

YouTube youtube.com/ anet computers

23:40

twitch trobo dolive Twitter I already

23:43

said that I

23:47

think Instagram Tik

23:50

Tok and Rumble

23:54

adios