[Solved] The Computer Restarted Unexpectedly Loop

By sushan Updated September 1, 2022

Installing Windows on the computer can be a tremendous task for many users. On top of that, if the computer is stuck in an unexpected restart loop, you end up getting ‘The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed’ message on the screen.

You may encounter the issue when the BIOS settings are misconfigured. Also, there might be a problem with the PC’s hard drive.

In this article, we will let you know all the possible fixes to help you resolve the restart loop issue.

How to Fix ‘The computer restarted unexpectedly loop’ Issue?

The issue occurs when you try to install a new Window setup on your computer. To fix the problem, you can unplug every peripheral from the computer and power cycle your PC. Changing BIOS settings and even resetting the BIOS setup can be possible solutions.

You can check the detailed guide below to know more about the fixes.

Detach All the Peripherals and Power Cycle PC

Your computer may be plugged in with various peripherals. The interruption between the devices and computer OS can cause a spinlock. It means the computer OS may be unresponsive and keep waiting for the device to react. Furthermore, the device drivers may be corrupted, or the hardware may malfunction, causing the restart loop issue.

So, you need to detach all the peripherals from your device. Moreover, you can also press the power key for around 10-15 seconds and let the PC drain all the charge from the capacitors. Also, you need to detach the power source of the computer. If your laptop has a removable battery, remove it as well.

Then after a minute or two, you can boot the PC again.

Make Changes to the BIOS Settings

The problem can also emerge when some settings in BIOS are misconfigured. So, you can check the BIOS settings and make some necessary changes. You can make the following change by looking at the steps below.

First, close the computer, power it on, and enter the BIOS settings.
You need to press the required key to open the BIOS settings menu. The key to open the BIOS settings can vary as per the manufacturer.
Now, choose the Advanced tab.
Then, select the Onboard Device Configuration option.
Next, head to the Boot options.
Here, choose Enabled for Secure Boot.
Likely, set Load OPROM as Disable.
Finally, select UEFI for the Boot Mode option.
Save your changes and exit the setup.

Note: As per your computer’s motherboard, the BIOS settings may vary.

Update BIOS

Another potential solution you can give a try is updating your BIOS. It can help your computer recognize and communicate with the peripherals. Also, updating your BIOS downloads new firmware updates and helps solve BSOD and other related errors. You can also check out our article to know in detail about updating BIOS.

Reset Your BIOS

If updating your BIOS is not enough to solve the issue, you can also reset the entire BIOS. Doing so will roll back the BIOS setup to its default form.

Open the BIOS settings window.
Now, head to the Exit menu.
Select Load Setup Defaults or Load Optimized Defaults.
Now, choose OK to confirm your preference.

Accessing the Windows Recovery Environment

Windows Recovery Environment provides various start-up troubleshooting options to help restore or recover Windows. It comes in handy when you usually face booting errors. Likely, the unexpected restarting loop issue on Windows can also be addressed using the WindowsRE.

Here’s how you can enter the WindowsRE on your PC.

Manually Entering WindowsRE

You can follow the steps below:

Press the PC’s power button to turn on the computer.
Then, switch it off by pressing the power button for around 10 seconds. You need to press the power button immediately after seeing the computer power up.
Keep doing it three more times.
Once the system power cycles three times switch on the device; it will open the WindowsRE on the computer.

Once you enter the WindowsRE and access the advances options, go through the fixes below individually one after the other.

Start Automatic Computer Repair

The option of Startup Repair is a troubleshooting entity provided by Windows to resolve startup issues. The unexpected restart loop can also be solved using this utility tool. To do so,

From WindowsRE, choose the Troubleshoot option.
Then, select Advanced Options.
Next, choose the Startup Repair option. The system will look for errors and fix them.

Reset Windows

Another probable solution to solve the problem will be resetting Windows to the default settings. With this option, you can keep your files or erase everything from the system.

Boot the computer to the WindowsRE.
Then, pick the Troubleshoot option.
Select Reset this PC.
Choose either Keep my files or Remove everything and follow up with the concurrent steps.
After a while, a new screen will appear. Here, you can pick Just remove my files or Fully clean the drive.
Next, click Reset.
A progress message stating ‘Resetting this PC X%’ will appear on the screen. The X represents the number of percentages. It will vanish once the reset process is complete.

Use System Image Recovery Option

When you decide to use the System Image Recovery option, it will revert everything back to the situation when the system image was made. This option can be handy to solve the unexpected restart loop in the system.

Open the WindowsRE.
Then, choose the Troubleshoot option from the Choose an option window.
Click Advanced Options.
Choose the System Image Recovery option.
Decide on the system recovery image and select it.
After that, you need to follow the message on the screen to finalize it.

Modify Registry Editor Value data

The likely culprit for the issue can also be the malicious setup.exe data file in the Registry Editor. Changing the Value data will be the ideal solution in such a case.

Select the Advanced options in the WindowsRE window.
Then, select Command Prompt.
Now, input regedit and hit Enter.
On the Registry Editor window, choose HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
Now, select SYSTEM > Setup > Status.
After that, select ChildCompletion and right-click on the setup.exe key.
Next, change Value data to 3 and press OK.
Close the Registry Editor window and the Command prompt.
Now, press the OK button on the error notification to reboot the PC.

Format Installation Drive

When nothing works out for you, the only option is to format the installation drive. It will remove Windows from your PC and resolve the issue.

In the WindowsRE menu, click Advanced options > Command Prompt.
Then, type diskpart and hit Enter.
Next, input list volume and hit Enter.
Now, press Enter after typing select volume 2. If the disk is listed in Volume 2 with your Windows OS, else input another number.
After that, run the command format fs=ntfs quick label=test. You can substitute any other word instead of test to use as your partition name.
Finally, input exit and hit the Enter key.

Note: Once the formatting is complete, you need to reinstall Windows. For that, you can check out the next section.

Reinstall the Windows

If, after everything, you are still stuck with the issue, it may be time to reinstall Windows on your computer. Upon doing so, you can either wipe out everything from the system or erase only the settings and applications.

For that, plug in the Recovery flash drive and choose Install Now after selecting language, time, currency, and input method. Now, follow the on-screen instruction to complete the setup.

To know more about reinstallation, you can check out our other article ‘How to Reinstall Windows 11 With or Without Losing data?’