My desktop recently stopped shutting down or restarting properly through the Windows menu. The monitors lose signal and the keyboard and mouse turn off, but the computer itself stays powered on. I can only fully turn it off by using the physical power button on the case. This also prevents me from completing updates or running anything that requires a restart. I tried disabling Fast Startup and hibernation, but neither fixed the issue. Disabling hibernation also caused sleep to behave strangely—the PC wakes up and gets stuck in the same state. The problem has been happening for at least two months, and I don't think I changed any hardware or system settings before it started. What should I check?
3 Answers
A background process, driver, or service may be preventing Windows from completing the shutdown sequence. Open Task Manager and review the active processes, especially anything that looks unfamiliar or is using a lot of CPU or disk. Since this has been happening for a while, also check Windows Update and your motherboard, chipset, and graphics drivers.
Because the monitors and USB devices power down while the computer remains running, this could also point to a stuck driver or a firmware/ACPI power-management issue rather than just a normal application. Try a clean boot to see whether a startup service is responsible, then update the BIOS and chipset drivers from the computer or motherboard manufacturer if the clean boot doesn’t change anything.
It’s been happening for roughly two months, and I don’t remember changing anything in the PC configuration before it began.
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. You can also run a Windows Defender scan, since unexpected background software can sometimes interfere with shutdowns.
How can I tell which process is actually preventing the shutdown? I’m not sure what I should be looking for.