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I have a PC (Intel i5-6500 CPU in a Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI motherboard) that was running Windows 7 fine for 5+ years, but after a clean install of Windows 10 has seemingly endless shutdown/sleep issues.

Occasionally, it can shutdown or sleep successfully, but often it fails in a consistent way: the screens turn off, but the PC's power LED stays lit. It then doesn't respond to any input (even the hard reset button) and I have to hold down the power button (or disconnect AC power) to power down.

I also tried installing Linux (Ubuntu 23.04), which (like Windows 7) is able to shut down every time without any issues.

The system also randomly freezes under Windows 10 (but never under Windows 7 or Ubuntu), which may or may not be related.

I have tried every suggestion I found online, including:

  • Fresh install of Windows 10 (again)
  • Repair install of Windows 10
  • [EDIT: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth followed by] sfc /scannow
  • Windows 10 Power troubleshooter
  • Every combination of BIOS/UEFI settings I can think of
    • (Although Windows 7 and Ubuntu both work fine with the same settings)
  • Every combination of enabling/disabling hibernation and enabling/disabling fast startup and enabling/disabling hybrid sleep
  • Reinstall all drivers for all devices from the manufacturer's website
  • Update all drivers for all devices
  • Enable/disable all "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" checkboxes in Device Manager (particularly IMEI and USB hubs)
  • Shutdown/hibernate from cmd using shutdown /f /s /t /0 or shutdown /s /t /0 or shutdown /h
  • DDR RAM test (memtest86)
  • Stress test the CPU/GPU/DRAM/PSU

All I can really conclude is:

  1. Hibernating and restarting work consistently.
  2. Sleeping and shutting down fail often.
  3. The freezes seem to be random (but there was never a freeze during many hours of stress tests - freezes tend to happen during much lighter workloads).

I have really exhausted all my ideas. Could anyone help me to even start diagnosing what is going on?

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  • Try to test Windows integrity by running the commands Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth before running sfc /scannow.
    – harrymc
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 15:27
  • @harrymc Thanks - I forgot to put that on my list. I did it 2 or 3 times (and just tried it again one more time). It just reports success. I will update my list above.
    – Harry
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 15:36
  • It might be impossible to pinpoint the problem, so I suggest to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade to set Windows to a consistent state. This is the same as doing a Windows upgrade (even if "upgrading" your version to itself), so take the same precautions.
    – harrymc
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 15:51
  • @harrymc I already tried a repair install, exactly as described at your link, but the problem still persists.
    – Harry
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 16:20
  • Create a Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report and post online the generated file (OneDrive, Dropbox etc).
    – harrymc
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 16:23

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Problem solved. The culprit was one of the RAM sticks.

I find this incredibly surprising because memtest86+ passed repeatedly on all 16 GB (2x 8 GB) of RAM. I even tweaked RAM frequency settings in the BIOS and saw a couple of memtest failures, so reverted the settings and re-tested (full test, 4 passes) with total success.

I noticed that the system seemed significantly less stable (and shutdown/sleep was failing consistently) after I reduced from 2x 8 GB RAM to 1x 8 GB RAM, so I tried swapping the RAM slot and then the RAM stick.

After 20+ shutdown/sleep tests with the other stick of RAM, there has not been a single failure. And overall system stability has been perfect after ~4 hours of normal use.

It's not clear to me why memtest, Windows 7 and Ubuntu had no problems, but Windows 10 did. But, for now, I'm happy to put that stick of RAM to the side and move on with my life :D

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-2

It may be that your RAM stick(s) wasn't all the way in. If you didn't hear an audible click when inserting the stick, then it isn't seated correctly. That's why some things (like Linux, memtest, etc.) may seemingly work correctly, but other things (like Windows) may not.

So if you have the time, you could try re-inserting that RAM stick, ensuring that you hear two clicks (one for each side). Also take a look at your motherboard manual for the optimal RAM slot configuration (assuming you have 4 or more slots).

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4
  • If you're downvoting please explain why.
    – explodingfilms101
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 17:16
  • I didn't downvote, but I can confirm that the RAM sticks were definitely seated properly.
    – Harry
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 18:50
  • @Harry if you want, you could verify whether it's the RAM stick that's the issue or the slot by putting the working module into the slot where the previous one didn't work. If it works, then it's a dead stick, if it doesn't then the slot is dead. If it's just the stick then you could potentially replace it down the line, but if it's the slot then you could save yourself the hassle (and money) later.
    – explodingfilms101
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 19:41
  • Yes, as I wrote in my answer: I tried swapping the RAM slot and then the RAM stick. The problem is definitely associated with the RAM stick and not the RAM slot. It doesn't necessarily mean the RAM stick is dead, just that the problem only happened when that RAM stick was installed. It could be a bad RAM stick, a configuration issue, a compatibility issue, or something else. For now, I am happy to move on without pinpointing the specific reason. I have clearly labelled the RAM as suspicious and put it in a drawer.
    – Harry
    Commented May 30, 2023 at 12:23

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