My laptop failed to boot the error message says windows failed to start. A recent hardware or Software change might be the cau

Mitch86

Estimable
Feb 14, 2015
3
0
4,510
My laptop failed to boot the error message says "windows failed to start. A recent hardware or Software change might be the cause."

Pretty sure it was from a windows (or some existing software) update as recall that was downloading in the background (and saying I need to restart computer for updates to take effect) before I last turned the laptop off (hasn't worked since that).

I have tried all the advance booting options (ie start in safe mode, repair manually, launch from last working version etc) but no luck just goes back to he normal screen and asks me to auto repair or launch windows normally. 1st option leads me to just a black screen with a mouse cursor (it did go to a blue screen once). 2nd option just takes me back to the two options menu again.

The comp is super old probably 5 years (asus) and don't have the old windows cd (can't recall what windows it was pretty sure it is 7 professional....)

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Solution
Best option is trying a system restore but you will need a repair disc or a copy of windows 7. You can create a repair disc with another machine that has windows 7 installed. Burn it then run it on your machine and you will get the recovery options so you can attempt to restore your machine to an earlier time. Note you can also use a bootable USB stick if you dont have access to a CD/DVD burner on the other machine.

zink1701

Honorable
Sep 14, 2012
60
0
10,610
Best option is trying a system restore but you will need a repair disc or a copy of windows 7. You can create a repair disc with another machine that has windows 7 installed. Burn it then run it on your machine and you will get the recovery options so you can attempt to restore your machine to an earlier time. Note you can also use a bootable USB stick if you dont have access to a CD/DVD burner on the other machine.
 
Solution

SBMfromLA

Distinguished
Nov 11, 2011
160
0
18,710
I've seen this error before. When it first happened to me.. it was from me connecting an old device to windows that wasn't supported. What happened was it corrupted my boot loader. I cleared it up by booting from the Windows DVD and selection the option to Repair Windows... I had to run it about 3 times to get to completely clear up.