PC shutdown issues...

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

So sometimes my PC doesn't shut down. Its a year old and I can't for the life of me figure out the problem. I would greatly appreciate the help. More answers the better I love learning all I can about tech and how to trouble shoot problems.

i7-2600
ASUS p8p67 deluxe
crucial 64gb SSD-OS windows 7 pro
W.D. 500gb HDD
16gb ram
Vanilla EVGA 680

 

[Kadathan]

The PC just hangs at the shutting down screen? I haven't seen that problem for quite some time... But there are ways of seeing what might be up. Do you know how to check the event viewer for windows logs? If so, you might see some errors in there that pop up before you removed power to the kernel.

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

Yeah it just hangs up on the shutdown screen, its annoying. Could there be something seriously wrong with my PC? I don't know how to check the event viewer could you tell me please? I know how to get to the event viewer, just not sure what I would be looking for.

 

[Kadathan]

I sure can. Click start, right click on computer, click manage. This is the computer management console. On the left, there is a list, one of the first entries should be event viewer. Expand it, then expand Windows Logs, and click on System.

The viewer will load your system logs into the middle panel. You now want to filter out the regular run of the mill stuff, so click on filter in the right panel.
Filter current log -> Check mark Critical, Error, and Warnings, hit ok.

Now you're looking at what I was asking for. If you've been having to force shutdown your computer because it is hanging, it will show up here an an error, power removed from kernel. You are looking for any entry directly below this kernel power error, as the list goes newest to oldest.

So check the times, and try to see if there is an error here that corrisponds with a shutdown issue, before the power down. Depending on the error it may give an indication of why this problem could be happening.

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

Sweet I can do that. I've been trying to not use my computer. It sucks because I built that to be my powerhouse. But my laptop is very good to me, just not as powerful...

 

[Kadathan]

If you find anything that you are uncertain about, post it... Also, if you want to try a further step, try booting to safe mode... hit f6 to bring up the boot menu and select safe mode without networking. That will load just the OS and critical drivers and services... Now, try shutting down, if it hangs then it is a good indication that one of the drivers you have installed is causing the system instability.

Edit for poor spellings.

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

It doesn't hang every time just after being in sleep mode for long periods of time.

 

[Kadathan]

Hmm, OK, that narrows things down but it also makes the issue intermittent, which is a long way of saying pain in the behind I have to head home right now, but I will post any thing that I think might help narrow it further... The key with this sort of issue is to try one thing at a time. You don't want to do a whole bunch of stuff and have it work in the end, because then you will have no idea what the problem actually was or which action fixed it, and that will make you terrified of your computer

So for now, checking the event viewer after an instance of shutdown woes is your best bet, IMO.