My computer recently stopped shutting down or restarting properly through the Windows power menu. The monitors lose signal and the keyboard and mouse turn off, but the PC itself continues running. I can only fully power it down by using the physical button on the case. This is especially frustrating because I can't complete updates or tasks that require a restart. I already disabled Fast Startup and hibernation, but neither fixed the issue. Disabling hibernation also caused sleep mode to wake unexpectedly and become stuck in the same state. The problem has been happening for at least two months, and I don't remember changing my hardware or configuration. What should I check?
3 Answers
Check the power-button settings in Windows. Open Settings, search for “change what the power buttons do,” and make sure the power button action isn’t set to “Do nothing” or merely turning off the display. That setting may not explain every symptom, but it’s worth ruling out.
Since this has lasted for a couple of months, look for driver or system problems as well as software. Check Windows Update and your motherboard, chipset, graphics, and storage drivers. You can also test a clean boot to see whether a third-party service is interfering with shutdown. If shutdown works in a clean boot, re-enable services in groups until the culprit is identified.
A background process, driver, or service may be preventing Windows from completing the shutdown. Open Task Manager and review the running processes and startup apps, especially anything recently installed or related to hardware utilities. You can also run a full scan with Windows Defender rather than assuming malware is involved.
How can I narrow down which process or service is causing it?
It has been happening for at least two months, and I don’t think I changed anything on the PC before it started.