Windows restarts or shows Bluescreen after installing new hardware

[Osiris]

My friend experienced a problem after installing a new hardware device on his Windows XP operating system. Windows XP would restart immediately and he was puzzled why this was happening. A quick lookup in the Microsoft Knowledgebase revealed that this was a rather common problem that could appear after installing new hardware.
The computer would either restart or show a bluescreen. The solution posted on the official Microsoft website was to disconnect the device and see if Windows XP would restart afterwards. If the system indeed starts normally the device most likely needs a driver update which can be obtained from the manufacturer of the device.
If Windows XP does not start after disconnecting the device you should try starting it with the last good configuration. You do that the following way:

• Boot the Computer
• Press F8 when you see Please select the operating system to start message. I do tap the F8 key continously to enter that menu
• Select Last Known Good Configuration from the menu to load that configuraion

If that did not help to fix the restart or Bluescreen your last hope is System Restore which can be accessed from the command prompt. Use the administrators account and the following command to start the System Restore process:
%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
My friends system was thankfully not that messed up and worked normally after using the Last Known Good Configuration option. A driver update made it possible to install the device without experiencing restarts of Windows XP.

Windows restarts or shows Bluescreen after installing new hardware

 

[Cerulean]

Thanks for the tip!

I'm having the same issue with Vista right now. The only real difference is that my new piece of hardware is a motherboard, so I really can't disconnect it, and I'm not real sure how to install the drivers without accessing the OS. It gets to the point where the green MS load bar appears at the bottom of the black screen. Then, just has it's about to load the logon screen, it reboots. Any advice? Vista is still new territory for me