My daughter's laptop has been suffering with patchy internet connection, loads of DNS error messages, Default Gateway not found, and more recently a couple of blue screens, error messages that the Intel AC 8260 is not installed, cannot be started etc. She stopped by to see me recently and the laptop was thrust into my hands with instructions to fix it. 

When I got it, the adaptor seemed to have failed completely with the 'cannot be started' message in Device Manager. I tried the usual things such as removing the device and deleting drivers, SFC to see whether the Windows driver was OK, Malware checks, check for Mcafee, uncheck 'allow windows to turn off this device' etc. etc. Opened it up to check seating and clean contacts (bugger, Asus have made a custom board with the AC 8260 chipset, so I can't just bang in a new one) but nothing would persuade it to work.

Finally I did a completely clean start up via msconfig, and the bloody thing started perfectly. So I began the tedious business of restarts enabling more and more services and programs each time...UNTIL...it was doing a normal startup, and still working perfectly. And it's still working perfectly. But all I did was disable all the non-MS services and programs at start up, and then allow them all again. I lose track of the number of times I've used msconfig to troubleshoot something and had exactly the same thing happen. Have MS put magic in it? They certainly haven't put any in the rest of the OS.

Maybe the last thing you did before you embarked on the MSConfig odyssey was the thing you needed to do, but it needed a reboot?

Aye, it's all boiled down to turning it off and on. :C

Although it did have about 14 or 15 reboots. And I remembered to turn it off and disconnect the battery when I re-seated the adaptor. It's irritating that Asus have built a wifi board specifically for the laptop, with a bloody earphone jack on it. On the other hand, if they hadn't done that I don't suppose I would have persisted and got it working (if I did get it working).

Msconfig seems such a good idea, to be able to selectively disable all kinds of software, but I think it's actually puzzled me far more often than it's cleared up a problem.