Kernal Power Event ID 41

Afternoon all,

I've been searching around this problem for a couple days and thought the most help was being given on here. Some help for this similar issue would be most appreciated.

We have a windows 7 machine that keeps randomly shutting itself down. When I look in the events log it tells me that there's a critical error 41 based on the Kernal Power System this is normally stuck in between readings of a warning named Kernal TM and another named Kernal Event Tracing.

Before looking at the event log (as advised on a similar problem on this forum) we thought it could be the fan over heating and the computer shutting down as a result. But it was only after looking at the event log we started to consider issues with the power supply unit. But this is not my area. Any help is appreciated.

Thank in advance

Kate and her Dad

MS has a paper on the event 41.

The kernel power event ID 41 error occurs when the computer is shut down, or it restarts unexpectedly. When a computer that is running Windows starts, a check is performed to determine whether the computer was shut down cleanly. If the computer was not shut down cleanly, a Kernel Power Event 41 message is generated.

An event 41 is used to report that something unexpected happened that prevented Windows from shutting down correctly. There may be insufficient information to explicitly define what happened. To determine what may have happened and to identify a potential resolution, it is important to know what the computer was doing at the time just before the event occurred.

If event 41 is logged because power to the computer was interrupted, consider obtaining an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) such as a battery backup power supply. An underpowered or failing power supply may cause this behavior. For example, if you added RAM or additional devices or hard disks when this problem began, the power supply may cause the problem.


An event 41 can occur in the following scenarios.
Scenario 1: The computer restarts, and there is a Stop error BugcheckCode in the event data

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Scenario 2: The computer is shut down by pressing and holding the power button

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Scenario 3: The system randomly restarts and no Stop error BugcheckCode is listed, or the computer is completely unresponsive (hard hang)

Faulty power supply may be your problem.

I had this very same problem last week.

First, my APC UPS started making clicking noises and shut down only the PC as if someone pulled the plug. I tossed the UPS and the problem went away.

Then a few days later during a thunderstorm, my PC blinked out and started up again immediately even though the BIOS is set to remain off when the power is cut. I wondered if my new mobo was faulty. But turning on my TV showed that the power did indeed fail for a split second, enough to force my OTA channel box to bluescreen.

I bought a surge suppressor at HD and the Kernel Power problem is now gone.

Thank you both for your replies.

@madcratebuilder I think I've read over that thread before (I've read so many now they all seem to blur into one). Out of the options we seem to be closer to scenario 3 than anything else. But in the mean time to reading your message I decided to run a quick scan using McAfee, it stopped scanning at 98% which is the C:/boot file and it froze on this for a while, it froze for so long we shut it off in the finish. We're not sure if this could be connected or if were just clutching at straws? The message always appears at start up before it does anything else.

@OvenMaster I'm pleased to hear that some one else seems to be having the same problem, but even more so that you fixed it. We took your advice and bought a surge suppressor but unfortunately the problem still occurs.

As mentioned above with the McAfee scan, I'm not sure if this is just one issue that just keeps popping up or if we've managed to find one and dug up more that we thought.

Any more thoughts and/ or suggestions?? As always greatly appreciated.