My computer shuts down normally with fast startup enabled but doesn't shut down at all with it disabled. Why?

Question

I am experiencing problems with Windows 8's fast startup feature. You see, several softwares do not work properly when I use the fast startup feature to start windows. For example VLC media player doesn't start at all when I use this feature but when I power off (i.e. disconnect the power supply(i'll tell you why I do that)) the computer, and then start Windows, it runs well. Similar is the problem with my internet connection. I use a USB Modem to connect to the internet and I have created a dial-up connection to use that network. It works normally but when I shutdown the computer with fast startup enabled, the next time I start it, I cannot connect to the internet and it says, "the modem is already in use or is incorrectly configured". That's why I disabled this feature. Now, with this feature DISABLED, the computer doesn't shut down AT ALL. It simply shows "Shutting down" with the loading animation (this one:). I left it for several hours one day but it still didn't shut down. I've even tried to force shutdown but in vain. That is why I have no option left except powering off the machine.

What I have inferred is that the system info that gets written into some file when fast startup is enabled is causing all the trouble. When I power it off, Windows doesn't get a chance to write settings into its file, hence it starts afresh.

Any one knows how to solve this problem ? If you need more info, just put a comment.

Answer 1

Yippee!! Finally found a working solution myself! Well, what I did is:

Ran check disk at startup. That's all!!

In case you have the same problem and you don't know how to do that, follow these steps:

1. Start the computer. After you log into your account make sure you don't do anything except what the following steps ask you to do. Believe me, this is darn important.
2. In the start menu, click/tap on "Desktop".
3. Press [Windows Key] + R (i.e. open the 'Run' command) and then type "cmd". This should show the "Command Prompt". Right click on it select "Run as administrator".
4. Then type "chkdsk /f". It should say "Cannot lock current drive" and ask whether you want to schedule chkdsk to run at next restart. Press "Y" and then press "enter".
5. Then in the same Command Prompt window, type shutdown /r /t 0. If you followed the steps correctly, this should restart the computer (this time, it will restart).
6. After the computer starts, drive C: will be checked for errors and if errors are found, they'll be repaired. Wait for this process to complete. After that it will automatically restart again and this time, your PC will shutdown and restart as usual even without the "fast startup" feature disabled.