PC shuts down but does not power off

AKThomsen · Jul 8, 2015

Problem:

When I restart my PC, it does the usual shut down stuff. The screen goes black, but the power is still on (fans running, lights on etc.). It will keep running like this indefinitely.

Notes:
■ It has been running fine until now. The only notable change is installing some updates for Windows and Office.
■ Shutting it down works about half the time.
■ When restarting after changing BIOS settings, this does not occur.
■ I am able to restart it by pressing the reset button or holding down the on/off button. As well as just cutting the power.
■ The overclock is stable and is not the cause for this
■ I have tried swapping out the RAM, this does not seem to be the cause.
■ I am pretty sure the MB and PSU is not the problem, since it has been working until today. And IMHO things doesn't just magically stop working.

System info:

MB: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 rev 2.0
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Overclocked to 3.6 GHz
RAM: Celenade 2x2GB DDR2 800 MHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 1GB
HDDs: 2x80GB HP FB080C4080 in a RAID 0 array
PSU: Seasonic SS 330GB Active PFC F3 330W
OS: Windows 7: Home Premium 64-bit

My absolute last resort is to reinstall windows. I really want to avoid doing this.
Since I have very limited HDD space, I decided to turn system protection off.

Any help and suggestions is much appreciated

dwatterworth · Jul 8, 2015

Any chance one of the items installed was an Intel IRST update?
I know it's a different platform, but I've had a few Z77 and Z87 motherboards in customer builds that would exhibit the exact same behavior if the IRST program was installed. One of them, an Asus Z87 impact would even boot back up after 10 minutes or so.

AKThomsen · Jul 8, 2015

dwatterworth :

Well, I installed it when I installed the drivers for the MB. But maybe I should try to remove it? I actually don't know what it does, just figured it was a good idea to install when it was one of the board drivers.

dwatterworth · Jul 8, 2015

I've read a few different things about it when I ran into the problems I mentioned. I think it is supposed to speed up certain disk access operations, but even the intel explanation is very generic.

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-020784.htm

Since you've got a raid array going, maybe you can roll back your driver to the previous version to see if that changes anything instead of removing the driver completely? Sounds like your system was running at 100% before that update. I have definitely had different automatic updates do funky things before.

AKThomsen · Jul 8, 2015

dwatterworth :

The array is on the external Gigabyte controller, so the driver is pretty much useless, right?

dwatterworth · Jul 8, 2015

In windows, do you have that Intel control panel thing for the array? I believe it was the Intel Matrix or something along those lines. I'd try rolling the driver back first if possible before removing anything completely.

If it's a hardware controller on the motherboard, you shouldn't need anything other than the Gigabyte driver that is loaded before the actual windows OS install process.

AKThomsen · Jul 8, 2015

dwatterworth :

Nope, I don't have any kind of controlpanel for the array. And there are no previous drivers I can roll back to.

dwatterworth · Jul 8, 2015

Set a restore point and drop the drivers. I wish there was a way to opt out of some of those driver updates that perpetually come up. 'No Microsoft...I don't need a special driver for my $20 keyboard.'

AKThomsen · Jul 8, 2015

dwatterworth :

I know what you mean! :lol:

AKThomsen · Jul 8, 2015

dwatterworth :

I can't seem to find the driver. But I know I installed it. Where should it be?

dwatterworth · Jul 8, 2015

You can find it in device manager under the IDE/ATA/ATAPI controllers field. They should be labeled as IRST or RST drivers in the properties of the controllers themselves.

AKThomsen · Jul 9, 2015

Apparently that particular driver isn't installed. I tested all the hardware and I am now 100 % sure that it is a software issue, and most likely it is windows acting up. Any suggestions?

dwatterworth · Jul 10, 2015

Without knowing exactly went into the updates, I can only recommend a system restore back to the restore point set before the automatic updates. Possibly check to see if any of the power options changed in Windows?

AKThomsen · Jul 10, 2015

dwatterworth :

That's the problem, I disabled that function to save space on the HDD

What sort of power options am I looking for?

dwatterworth · Jul 10, 2015

Can you try booting into safe mode (hold F8 before windows starts loading) and then see if the computer will shut down completely from that?

I found this thread on MS support that could be worth trying as well, regarding starting up with a clean boot to see if it is a windows issue or additional software that is the cause.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-7-wont-turn-computer-off/24f72f7d-b116-40ad-af54-93aa3b5240a2?auth=1

IamTimTech · Jul 10, 2015

"Updates for windows and office"

Do a system restore to before those updates, see if the problem persists afterwards.

A bios update may be in order for your motherboard, and makjng sure you have the latest chipset and gpu driver would probably help though thoae are less likely suspects.

AKThomsen · Jul 10, 2015

dwatterworth :

That worked!

dwatterworth · Jul 10, 2015

AKThomsen :

Great! But does it turn off from a regular boot of windows now? So it is definitely a process outside of the windows core that is causing it.

AKThomsen · Jul 10, 2015

dwatterworth :

AKThomsen :

Great! But does it turn off from a regular boot of windows now? So it is definitely a process outside of the windows core that is causing it.

Yes. Magically, it just works now :lol:

dwatterworth · Jul 10, 2015

Awesome! Maybe there was something in the page file that it was trying to release. One of those things to shrug at and not question until it acts up again!

PC shuts down but does not power off

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