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PC does not properly power down

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  • Systems
  • Power Down
Last response: in Systems
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August 1, 2014 9:42:28 AM

I5 3350P
Asrock B75 Pro 3-m
Palit GTX 770
8GB of ram
XFX pro 550W
Windows 7 64 bits

As the title suggest, when I power down most components will turn off. Though, my case fans and leds stay on. This wasn't the case a few months ago and it started happening out of nowhere, so a build error is not likely. The funny thing is that when I restart my pc the power (or atleast the components, no fan sounds, no lights) turns off for a second after which the pc will boot again. I've been trying to find an option for a really long time now. No setting in BIOS which seemed to fix it.

UPDATE from further down the thread:
Even better, I found out something new. When I shut down, the screen goes blank like it would be turned off. After letting it stay "on" for a while, I did a hard reset. After I turned my pc on again I was surprised to see my download (which would have taken another 20 minutes at the moment of shutting down) was finished! Also, my browser said that it recovered from an unsuspected shutdown, meaning that it did not properly shut down Windows.

More about : properly power

August 1, 2014 9:44:43 AM

Do you use windows shutdown option, or do you hold the power button on the tower?
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August 1, 2014 9:48:00 AM

Sounds like artificial intelligence. I'd recommend traveling to Ghana and contacting the local witch doctor.
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August 1, 2014 9:52:35 AM

modernwar99 said:
Do you use windows shutdown option, or do you hold the power button on the tower?

Windows shutdown option.


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Best solution

August 1, 2014 9:54:22 AM

Hmm it's probably your motherboard. Do you have the dehumidifier setting disabled? Do you have any USB devices other than your mouse and keyboard plugged in? Sometimes they can cause weird behaviour like when I left my ext. HDD plugged into my old computer it sometimes would only partially shut down and sometimes wouldn't turn on until I unplugged the drive.
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August 1, 2014 10:18:57 AM

plywrlw said:
Hmm it's probably your motherboard. Do you have the dehumidifier setting disabled? Do you have any USB devices other than your mouse and keyboard plugged in? Sometimes they can cause weird behaviour like when I left my ext. HDD plugged into my old computer it sometimes would only partially shut down and sometimes wouldn't turn on until I unplugged the drive.

Dehumidifier is turned off. Heat protection is on though. There is an usb plugged into my pc, but even when it is plugged out the problem persists. I think it may be a psu problem, as everything is connected right )I can shut it off with the power button'.
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August 1, 2014 10:38:41 AM

Stuff like this can be really hard to diagnose without the luxury of a pile of spare parts! You could reset the CMOS of your motherboard. That PSU is a nice one but there are always some lemons :( 
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August 1, 2014 10:41:23 AM

plywrlw said:
Stuff like this can be really hard to diagnose without the luxury of a pile of spare parts! You could reset the CMOS of your motherboard. That PSU is a nice one but there are always some lemons :( 

Tried to reset the CMOS before (factory settings in BIOS) which didn't help. Even flashed my bios to the latest version after that. Going to be really shitty if the psu is faulty, as my previous one had to be RMA'd too.

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August 1, 2014 10:44:50 AM

Is there anyone you can loan one from? Have you tried unplugging all your psu cables and plugging them back in just in case? Have you checked your motherboard is secure and not shorting? Sorry all these things are a right hassle!
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August 1, 2014 10:51:31 AM

plywrlw said:
Is there anyone you can loan one from? Have you tried unplugging all your psu cables and plugging them back in just in case? Have you checked your motherboard is secure and not shorting? Sorry all these things are a right hassle!

I do not think I can loan a PSU. I've checked before, but am going to once again just in case. Testing if the same thing happens when shutting down Ubuntu to make sure it is an hardware issue. I'm not sure how I check my motherboard is secure though.

On a side note, could it be my harddrive? It is slowly dieing (it had a few bad sectors, fixed now). The chance seems really small to me but it's worth to ask I guess. Thanks for the help by the way!
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August 1, 2014 10:56:16 AM

To test, download Linux to a flash drive, disconnect your HDD, boot into Linux and shut down. That would test the OS & HDD. Good luck!
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August 1, 2014 11:01:36 AM

To check your motherboard is secure try pressing it gently on it's plastic bits like PCI slots in a couple of areas. It shouldn't wobble at all but might flex which is OK. Before touching your components make sure you've grounded yourself so you don't damage anything with static (see http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/358872-28-assemblin...)

As for your HDD causing the issue, running an Ubuntu live CD or flash should tell you that as the issue will go away (the live CD/flash just uses RAM, not HDD).
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August 1, 2014 12:03:44 PM

plywrlw said:
To check your motherboard is secure try pressing it gently on it's plastic bits like PCI slots in a couple of areas. It shouldn't wobble at all but might flex which is OK. Before touching your components make sure you've grounded yourself so you don't damage anything with static (see http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/358872-28-assemblin...)

As for your HDD causing the issue, running an Ubuntu live CD or flash should tell you that as the issue will go away (the live CD/flash just uses RAM, not HDD).

The motherboard and all cables are in place. Atleast I think so. The only "weird" thing I noticed is that my HDD is not in the first sata port (SATA 3_0) but in the one below (SATA2_1). I vagualy remember it being in the first one, but I am not sure if that would change anything about the shutting down. Probably not.

Going to try Ubuntu now.

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August 1, 2014 12:11:40 PM

Even better, I found out something new. When I shut down, the screen goes blank like it would be turned off. After letting it stay "on" for a while, I did a hard reset. After I turned my pc on again I was surprised to see my download (which would have taken another 20 minutes at the moment of shutting down) was finished! Also, my browser said that it recovered from an unsuspected shutdown, meaning that it did not properly shut down Windows.

This might explain my dieing harddrive too, as I've basically been cutting the power instead of properly shutting down for the last 2 or 3 months.

Edit; tried clean boot, it's either an hardware or bios issue.
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August 1, 2014 12:53:50 PM

Ubuntu does not shut down either (freezes at shutdown, usb no activity).
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August 1, 2014 2:51:58 PM

Strangely after trying to reset my CMOS a second time it seems to have fixed it. Not sure what I did wrong the first time but I do not care at all anymore. I´ve been able to correctly shutdown two times now. So that should be okay. I´d like to thank plywrlw as he has been giving a lot of things to check or try.
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August 1, 2014 3:02:19 PM

No problem, I hope that's sorted it :)  I know how annoying stuff like this can be!
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!