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I have a homebuilt system that has been giving me headaches on and off for the better part of a year. Whenever I try to shutdown, sleep or reboot (from Windows or BIOS), the system will appear to shutdown, but will not power off (fans and lights stay on). The only way to power it off is to hold down the power button for a few seconds. If I immediately try to turn the system back on, it will fail to POST. However, if I leave the system alone for an hour or so after powering it off, or unplug it or about 10 minutes, it'll start back up and boot to Windows without issue.
I have tried removing every component and powering it back on, save for the CPU, mobo or RAM, and nothing changes. I would replace a faulty component, but I don't know what to replace. The dependency on letting the system sit after power off makes me wonder if the issue is power related (either PSU or mobo). Interestingly, if I boot to linux on a separate hard disk, it will power down fine. This makes me wonder if the issue is related to the SSD Windows is installed on (the boot loader is on the SSD too, though).
I have updated every driver and BIOS multiple times. As of this post, all of the drivers, and the BIOS, available from ASRock are up to date. I also upgraded the SSD firmware successfully, but with some difficulty (due to the issue rebooting). I have looked at the Windows event viewer, and there are no errors or warnings when the command to power down is submitted. Windows seems to shut down correctly.
Given these symptoms, what would the likely culprit for these problems be? Would it most likely be a hardware problem (SSD, Mobo, PSU), or software problem (Windows, BIOS)? All of the remaining avenues for tackling this problem would involve spending money and/or data loss, which I would like to avoid if possible.
Here is the setup:
Asrock Z77E-ITX Mobo
Intel Core i5 3570K
Crucial M4 256 GB SSD (Primary drive) with Windows 7 64 bit
Segate 1TB HDD (Secondary) with Ubuntu 12.04
WD Caviar Green 2TB Drive (not in use)
Corsair 1600 low-profile DDR3 RAM, 2x4GB
EVGA GTX 660 ti
Antec Khuler 620 CPU cooler
FSP SF 450w PSU
LG BDR Drive
Update I bought a new power supply and shutting down/sleeping/rebooting from Windows, Linux and BIOS. Unfortunately, after a hopeful 5 minutes, the old problems started resurfacing. The first time I shutdown from BIOS, it failed to POST. After that, when the system would POST, Windows failed to load half the time. This is actually a step backwards from the previous state (Windows never failed to load if the system POSTed).
1If you suspect the Power Supply, what happened when you tried another known good one? In general, if you want to repair your own computer(s), you better be prepared to get extra parts for testing. :) Aside from that, backup and try a fresh Windows install. Does it behave the same way? – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2013-08-09T18:24:10.720
To me it sounds like a program is not closing properly and gets stuck. Because you can close and fully power down with Linux, there could be an issue with windows. techie007 suggestion for trying a clean install sounds logical. – Carl B – 2013-08-09T18:28:59.183
@CarlB: This wouldn't explain why the box won't POST after a hard shutdown, though. Nor why it has to sit 10 minutes unplugged before it will boot properly. – Moses – 2013-08-09T18:33:41.740
@techie007: Trying a Windows installation repair was going to be my next step, followed by a fresh installation if that did not work. If there were an issue with my installation, wouldn't problems be logged somewhere? As I mentioned, the Event Viewer log shows no problems in shutdown tasks. Unfortunately, I don't have a spare PSU sitting around, though I may try picking on up this weekend. – woemler – 2013-08-09T18:38:53.987
1If you are going to downvote, please leave a comment explaining how the question can be improved. Thanks. – woemler – 2013-08-09T18:39:52.193
1I'm going to suggest you could improve this question: Before coming here, try dealing with the things that you say you suspect instead of just telling us what you suspect (falls under lack of Research Effort IMO). Make it into an actual (specific) question, as this one reads like a story about what's going on and your thoughts on it - not a question. There's not even an actual question mark anywhere! :) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2013-08-09T19:07:49.340
@techie007: Point taken. I have updated my question to address your comments. Most of the avenues I can see to address my problems will either cost money or result in data loss, so I'd like to see if anybody on SU might be able to identify something in my symptom list that I may have missed before I proceed. – woemler – 2013-08-09T19:22:15.920
Replace the motherboard – MDT Guy – 2013-08-09T19:31:57.100
2Trying a Windows installation repair was going to be my next step, followed by a fresh installation if that did not work. Why? If the machine fails to POST (I'm going to assume that means 'does not power on' rather than 'give an error during POST') them this isn't a Windows issue. Windows isn't running at that point. If it's not powering up then nothing is running at that point and this would be a hardware issue. – Rob Moir – 2013-08-09T19:46:02.067
My guess is the Power Supply or motherboard. PS is cheap and easy enough to try first. – CharlieRB – 2013-08-09T20:03:25.350
@RobM: That was the assumption that I had been working with for a while now, but after recently installing Linux on a separate disk, I did not see any of the problems when booting to/shutting down that OS. I just picked up another PSU, so I will test that and go from there. – woemler – 2013-08-09T22:31:42.737
@CharlieRB: Tried a new PSU with no luck, motherboard is next. Luckily my local Micro Center stocks the same model, though if there is a hardware compatibility issue, I wonder if I shouldn't try a different manufacturer. – woemler – 2013-08-10T15:23:37.137