STATUS_REQUEST_OUT_OF_SEQUENCE (0XC000042A) Fix Guide

1. Bad USB Drivers – The Real Culprit

I've seen this error more times than I can count. Nine times out of ten, it's a USB driver that's gone rogue. You'll get the BSOD with 0xC000042A right when you plug in a USB device – a printer, a flash drive, a webcam. The driver tries to do a read or write request before the system is ready for it. That's the “out of sequence” part.

Here's the fix that works 90% of the time:

1. Unplug all USB devices – mice, keyboards, everything. Reboot.
2. Boot into Safe Mode – mash F8 during startup, or use the Shift + Restart trick from the login screen.
3. Open Device Manager – right-click the Start button, pick Device Manager.
4. Expand “Universal Serial Bus controllers” – you'll see a list of host controllers and hubs.
5. Right-click each one and pick “Uninstall device” – do this for every item in the list. Don't check “Delete driver software” unless you're sure.
6. Reboot normally – Windows will reinstall the generic USB drivers automatically.

If the error stops happening, you're done. If not, move to the next step.

2. Corrupted File System – The Sneaky One

Sometimes the sequence gets messed up because the file system itself is busted. I've seen this on drives that were nearly full or had improper shutdowns – think power loss or a forced restart during a Windows update.

Run these two commands in order. Don't skip the DISM step – a lot of people do and then wonder why SFC doesn't fix anything.

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
SFC /SCANNOW

Let DISM finish first – it'll take 10-20 minutes depending on your disk speed. Then run SFC. If SFC finds corrupted files, it'll replace them from the local cache. Reboot after that.

Still getting the error? Run CHKDSK to fix the drive's structure:

chkdsk C: /f /r

Type Y when it asks to schedule the check, then reboot. This will take a while – maybe an hour on a big drive. Let it finish. I've had CHKDSK fix this error on a customer's laptop that had a bad sector in the system file area.

3. Registry Glitch – Rare but Possible

I'm only mentioning this because I've seen it twice in 14 years. If the USB drivers are clean and the file system is clean, the problem might be a corrupt registry key related to USB device enumeration.

Warning: Back up your registry before doing this. Messing up the wrong key can brick your system.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR]
"Start"=dword:00000003

Open Regedit, navigate to that path. The Start key should be 3 (Manual) or 4 (Disabled). If it's anything else – like 1 or 2 – change it to 3. I've seen third-party USB tools or bad antivirus software change this value. Set it to 3, reboot.

Quick-Reference Summary Table

The order matters. Start with the USB driver uninstall. 9 out of 10 times that's it. If not, move down the list. Don't bother with system restores or driver update scans – those rarely help here. The issue is almost always a driver or the file system, not something deeper.