One of the most annoying errors of a computer is trying to shut it down or restart it without success because the shutdown procedure stops. If on Windows 7 or Windows 8 you press the button to shut down the computer and, after a certain loading, the procedure remains suspended and appears interminable, the only way to turn everything off is to disconnect the plug or keep the power button pressed to a few seconds.
The biggest problem is that if Windows does not shut down, no error warning appears and you don't know what to do.
This article examines various solutions to Windows problems that make it impossible to turn off or restart your PC .
If Windows does not stop to allow the correct shutdown of the computer and if this problem always occurs, there are basically three reasons :
- One of the processes or services does not stop.
- a defective or incompatible device driver has been installed.
- You are using a defective or incompatible computer program.
There is no good utility or clever trick to understanding computer shutdown problems so work by exclusion until you find the possible cause.
In another article, these points are explained in more detail, with the guide on how to solve if Windows takes too long to shut down .
First of all, it is important to know that you can find more information about a problem by reading the event log .
The first solution is to restore the computer to a previous situation using the expensive and precious system configuration restore .
Undoing recent changes is always a solution that works, unless the culprit is a previously installed system driver.
Starting the computer in safe mode and then using the MSConfig utility can help find the cause of a problem as explained in the specific guide.
If the problem is a device driver, try to disconnect all the hardware components attached to the PC, including the printer and the network cable .
If the computer shuts down, you can find the manager then update the driver.
However, if the hardware problem depends on a USB port or other internal connectors, you will need to update the drivers to the latest version.
Unfortunately there is no quick fix for minor hardware compatibility issues.
If you think that the cause of a malfunctioning computer is the hardware combination of the system, then you will have to try to find the offending device.
I have also heard of cases in which USB devices could cause a failure to shutdown or restart the computer if connected directly to the USB port of the PC and how it can be solved using a USB hub.
Another common cause of failure to restart the system is the power saving setting, especially if PCI cards are used.
To make sure this isn't the problem, go to Control Panel -> Power Options and choose the high performance profile.
The presence of corrupt files on the disk can also cause an incorrect shutdown of the system.
It is worthwhile to perform an advanced scandisk to correct errors on the hard disk .
In this Microsoft support guide, there are a few ways to resolve Windows shutdown errors.
Another article describes the reboot or shutdown problems for Windows 8 .
READ ALSO: Speed up the shutdown of the Windows system and the shutdown of the PC.
