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

[OverDose]

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.

 

[torchwood]

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

 

[OverDose]

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?

 

[Megahertz07]

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.

 

[torchwood]

and the tutorial,

Power Plan Settings - Change - Windows 7 Help Forums

Roy

 

[OverDose]

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.

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.

 

[torchwood]

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

 

[OverDose]

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.

 

[OverDose]

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

 

[torchwood]

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

 

[Ranger4]

OverDose. Are you using the Samsung Magician software?. Normally Samsung SSDs use the High Performance setting. I think you may have a conflict with your power plan settings that are in conflict with the Samsung setting.

Have you had a look at all the power settings under the Advanced section in Windows power Plan settings. My Samsung 750 pro SSD uses the High Performance setting & I do have the Samsung Magician software installed as well. With the version of Magician that I have I can make changes to some settings.

 

[OverDose]

OverDose. Are you using the Samsung Magician software?. Normally Samsung SSDs use the High Performance setting. I think you may have a conflict with your power plan settings that are in conflict with the Samsung setting.

Have you had a look at all the power settings under the Advanced section in Windows power Plan settings. My Samsung 750 pro SSD uses the High Performance setting & I do have the Samsung Magician software installed as well. With the version of Magician that I have I can make changes to some settings.

Hi Ranger4, I haven't as yet installed the Samsung Magician software on this desktop, however I do have it installed on another desktop machine that I use for gaming and other multimedia applications.

I will actually give that suggestion a try and see if the Samsung Magician doesn't help with allowing the desktop to be changed to the High Performance plan.

Thanks for that, cos I'd actually completely forgot about that software.

 

[Megahertz07]

Seen many cases that Samsung Magician was more part of the problem than part of a solution.

 

[OverDose]

Seen many cases that Samsung Magician was more part of the problem than part of a solution.

Megahertz07 - Noted. However, as I stated on my other desktop, I have had no issues so far while Samsung Magician is installed. So any other insights on this particular situation would be welcomed, if you have any.

In the meantime, I'm still at a stage where I can troubleshoot enough to not mind doing a clean re-install of whatever software I've loaded to date.

So speak now or forever hold your peace.

 

[Ranger4]

OverDose. What version of the Samsung Magician have you got. I have version 4.9.5 which allows you to customise the SSD if you wish. Version 4.9.5 is not the latest version as later versions don't seem to allow any customisation.

To find out what version your Magician is, open it & look for a menu at the bottom of the Magician window & click on Magician Info

 

[Megahertz07]

OverDose:
- Did you open device manager to see if there is any missing drivers?
- Did you run system file check (sfc /scannow)?

 

[OverDose]

OverDose. What version of the Samsung Magician have you got. I have version 4.9.5 which allows you to customise the SSD if you wish. Version 4.9.5 is not the latest version as later versions don't seem to allow any customisation.

To find out what version your Magician is, open it & look for a menu at the bottom of the Magician window & click on Magician Info

Ranger4 - Nope it's not Samsung Magician. It still did the same problem with or without Samsung Magician, and I was using v4.9.5.

OverDose:
- Did you open device manager to see if there is any missing drivers?
- Did you run system file check (sfc /scannow)?

Megahertz07 - It don't have any missing drivers in device manager (I always make sure of this). And I ran (sfc /scannow) even before I came to Seven Forums and it didn't detect any issues.

 

[Ranger4]

OverDose. Did you try changing any of the settings with Samsung Magician. Magician should set the Power Settings to Samsung High Performance. I really can't see how changing the Power Settings will cause this problem.

Have you had a look in Reliability Monitor to see if any conflicts are being detected. Click on white Flag in sys tray & open the Action Centre, then click on the Maintenance arrow & select View Reliability History & see if there are any conflicts listed.

Other than that I have really run out of ideas.

 

[OverDose]

Ranger4 Megahertz07 - Right! I have some clarity on what might be causing the issue. So while we've been chatting back and forth on here troubleshooting, I was more annoyed than anything else as to what could be doing this, since honestly, this is not my first OS install, and I have never experienced such odd behavior.

So I opted to do a clean install of Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit, and then what I did this time round is to set the "High Performance" plan in Windows 7 to active, early on during the install of the base / system drivers. My reasoning was that as I progress through the installs, and the prompted or forced restarts after some installs, I would become apparent what is causing the issue to occur.

I went ahead and installed most system drivers, and other 3rd party system utilities and everything was still on "High Performance" and restarting or shutting down just fine. One of the last installs I did this time around was the driver for my audio interface that I'm using (an ESI ESP1010 PCI sound card), and that installed fine as well. I then checked that that the system was using the ESP1010 sound card and not the system Realtek audio device (would not give me sound since my monitor speakers are connected to the ESP1010 card) and I got sound just fine out of everything and adjusted a few of the ESP1010 control panel settings.

And then it was time to restart and **BOOM**, problem surfaced again. So I immediately suspect that the last available driver from the ESI website is causing this problem.

Now it was time to double check that my suspicion was indeed correct, so I did the following uninstalls:

1) Disabled the Realtek audio device (system still hangs at restart and shutdown)
2) Uninstalled Realtek audio drivers (system still hangs at restart and shutdown)
3) Uninstalled the HD Audio device drivers bundled with the nVidia graphics card driver (system still wouldn't restart or shut down
4) Then I uninstalled the ESI ESP1010 audio drivers from the system, and that yielded a system that restarts and shuts down as it should.

All of this was done while I was using the "High Performance" plan.

And as a sidenote, even when I installed the Samsung Magician software and set the power plan to High Perfomance using that software (before installing the ESP1010 audio driver), the system was restarting and shutting down fine. So the issue is not there.

So for now I suspect that that is the problem.

I have already e-mailed ESI support and I have detailed my steps with my 2nd install, and how I reached a point of isolating the problem. So I am still waiting for them to respond.

I just hope that they will get back to me with a workable solution, since I am installing a DAW machine and can't use it without this hardware and I'm not really intending on selling it for any reason, as it is a very good sound card.

I will revert with any feedback on whether they came with a solution or not from their side at ESI.

Thanks for the ideas and help so far.

 

[Ranger4]

OverDose. At least you have discovered where the problem lies. It seems that the ESI ESP1010 does not like the High Performance Power Plan.

Will everything work properly with a Balanced Power Plan?. If it does, you may have to live with that as it should not cause any problems with performance.

Is the ESI card a new one?.