Windows 7 won't restart or shutdown when Power Plan changes are made.

Hi,

I've just finished a base (OS & various system utitilities) install of Windows 7 on a desktop machine to be used as a DAW. The primary reason for using Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) is because I have specific hardware that requires to be connected to the DAW and the last stable drivers for it are Windows 7 drivers.

So everything is still going well, and I have been just going through various updates (Windows Updates & other utility software) updates, to get that all out of the way, before I commence with the main DAW software installs.

However, since my last use of Windows 7 was on an old laptop I no longer own, I was also checking on certain OS tweaks to optimise the OS when using it.

One of those settings I went (for the first time ever on a desktop PC) was the "Power Plans" settings, which was set to their default settings (Balanced Power). Now on the laptop, I had it always set on "High Performance", since I always used the laptop with the charger connected, and was hardly ever with out the charger for long periods of time.

Now I have not been able to establish (from the various articles I read on Seven Forums or online) whether the various power plans are even relevant or beneficial in anyway when using a desktop computer, but I just figured "hey, I always used High Performance so let me set it to on".

However, the moment I made the change to the power plan and finished doing whatever other tweaks I was busy with, I tried to restart the desktop pc, and it went as far as the "Shutting Down" screen, with reticule that spins around, and the reticule spun and stopped and froze. The machine would stay like that until I either force a shutdown or restart using the front case buttons. This applies to when I do a shutdown as well.

I have since reverted to putting the power plan back to "Balanced Power" and there are no more restart or shutdown hangs that happen when the power plan is set to this.

Is there any explanation as to why changing of the power plan would prevent the pc from restarting or shutting down properly?

My basic system specs are:
ASUS Z97-K Motherboard
Intel Core i7 4790K CPU
16GB DDR3 RAM
512GB Samsung Pro SSD
2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
GeForce GTS 450 Graphics Card
ESI ESP1010 Sound Card

Any insight into this will help.

Thanks. :)

Hi OverDose,

My best >>guess<< would be the PCI Express settings

The only other thing to try is to adjust them 1 by 1
see which one causes the lock-up


Roy

torchwood said:

Hi OverDose,

My best >>guess<< would be the PCI Express settings

The only other thing to try is to adjust them 1 by 1
see which one causes the lock-up


Roy

Now I'm not one to pretend I know something when I don't. So my obvious next question is, how do I go about checking the PCI Express settings?

In my opinion, it's hard to believe it has something related to the power plan.

Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options
Select one plan
Select change plan settings
Change advanced settings.
Take note of all settings related to the plan
Do the same to the other plan
Compare both.

and the tutorial,

Power Plan Settings - Change - Windows 7 Help Forums

Roy

Megahertz07 said:

In my opinion, it's hard to believe it has something related to the power plan.

Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options
Select one plan
Select change plan settings
Change advanced settings.
Take note of all settings related to the plan
Do the same to the other plan
Compare both.

Megahertz - The reason I state that the issue could be related to changing power plans, is because right up until even a few minutes ago, the system operates as it should i.t.o. restarts or shut downs, when set to the "Balanced Power" plan.

However, the moment I change to the "High Performance" plan, I encounter the issue I described above in my OP.

And as I stated, I don't even know whether changing these on a desktop makes any difference, but I do find it odd that the desktop behaves in this way, unlike the several laptops I use or have owned, where this has never occured.

torchwood said:

and the tutorial,

Power Plan Settings - Change - Windows 7 Help Forums

Roy

Torchwood - these are the steps I followed when changing the power plans, however, I did not delve deeper into the individual settings, I would leave each power plan in the default states. I just select one plan or another, and this action either yields the hang up at restart / shutdown, versus making the issue go away by switching back to "Balanced Power".

I hope this clarifies my scenario.

Hi OverDose,

in that case id have to plump for the HP power plan control dll being corrupt.

can you run the repair tool
KB947821, copy/paste the output
(C > Windows > Logs > CBS..... SURT)

Roy

torchwood said:

Hi OverDose,

in that case id have to plump for the HP power plan control dll being corrupt.

can you run the repair tool
KB947821, copy/paste the output
(C > Windows > Logs > CBS..... SURT)

Roy

Thanks. I'll try that now. Give me a few minutes and I'll revert back with the log info.

torchwood said:

Hi OverDose,

in that case id have to plump for the HP power plan control dll being corrupt.

can you run the repair tool
KB947821, copy/paste the output
(C > Windows > Logs > CBS..... SURT)

Roy

Right, downloaded, installed and completed the KB9477821 Hotfix and here is the information from the log file:


=================================
Checking System Update Readiness.
Binary Version 6.1.7601.22471
Package Version 26.0
2017-10-03 18:19

Checking Windows Servicing Packages

Checking Package Manifests and Catalogs

Checking Package Watchlist

Checking Component Watchlist

Checking Packages

Checking Component Store

Summary:
Seconds executed: 63
No errors detected

Hi OverDose,

That kinda runs me out of Windows Options.

The only other thing is your Bios settings, looking at the specs its one of those multi functional ones
Might be something conflicting.


Roy