'Sleep' Task Prevents Shutdown

[compupix]

When I try to shut down (or reboot) my computer, I get an error that two tasks are running that won't shut down. They are both called "Sleep."
The error that is difficult to read underneath the 'force shut down or cancel' message says something like:
Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. Unable to cast object of type "System diagnostics Process Thread" to type "System threading thread."

Right now, as I look at Task Manager, I see a single Application Task called 'Sleep.' I am unable to end the task. I don't know what started it.

How do I identify the cause of the 'Sleep' program/task and how do I kill it so I can re-boot my computer normally?

Thanks,
Drew

 

[rvcjew]

Run this program to find out what where it exists and why it is running (it's like an advanced task manger). https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx you want to look for its path and what registry it is under. Use Control+F to find it easier.

 

[compupix]

Thanks rvcjew.
I ran autoruns.
Using Find, there were no results for 'sleep.'
Using Filter, there were tons of results for 'sleep.' The vast majority of which were HK... items. Other than the HK... items, there were:
Two Startup folders. When I 'jumped to' the Startup folders, there were no signs of anything like 'sleep.' Just my normal autorun programs.
The Task Scheduler folder shows up in the filtered list. When I 'jump to' it, I see nothing named 'sleep.'
'WMI Database Entries' also shows up in the filtered list. As does, 'C:\Users\Drew\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar.' Jumping to those items didn't shed any light on the problem either.
When I started this response, 'sleep' was running in Task Manager. As of this moment, it is not. But, something called 'work' is with the same icon. And just before I did the screen grab for the attachment to this message, 'Warning: unresponsive script' showed up.
End Task did not work on either the 'Warning...' or the 'work' applications.

Thanks,
Drew

 

[rvcjew]

When those are showing up can you run autobus and find it? I'm on my phone at the moment but I suggest you use the links for adwcleaner first and see if it finds any thing it thinks is Rouge just to be safe. Download AdwCleaner - MajorGeeks I suggest you post picks of what it wants before deleting anything from that program. Make sure you check all tabs.

 

[DavidE]

Another good tool to have from SysInternals is Process Explorer.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

It's like Task Manager on steroids.
Start it with "Run as administrator", that gives more info.

Right click on a process in Process Explorer and click Properties.
It has info including "Autostart Location" that might help you.

My example is for the Image properties of Process Explorer, shows it's running from my [E] drive, and has the autostart location that I chose, and shows the parent process.

See if this helps find your tasks/processes.

 

[rvcjew]

Another good tool to have from SysInternals is Process Explorer.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

It's like Task Manager on steroids.
Start it with "Run as administrator", that gives more info.

Right click on a process in Process Explorer and click Properties.
It has info including "Autostart Location" that might help you.

My example is for the Image properties of Process Explorer, shows it's running from my [E] drive, and has the autostart location that I chose, and shows the parent process.

See if this helps find your tasks/processes.

View attachment 351380

Ah, thanks David I did not show that one cause It doesn't have those columns by default showing and did not want to confuse them. When looking at the properties that window is very clear and concise though. They can also have it look for any rouge ones against virustotal. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[compupix]

I took the following actions before seeing the responses from DavidE on.

Adwcleaner_4.111 stopped responding when it got to 'Scanning web browsers...'
Adwcleaner-4-111-multi-win also stopped at the same spot.
(All browser windows were closed at the time.)
I then tried YAC (yet another cleaner.)
It didn't remove the "working" item from Task Manager.
I ran Malwarebytes. It found 4 items, which I quarantined.
I then uninstalled all the new software and made sure nothing new was showing up in the Add/Remove programs list. That's when I saw something called "SSN." Finding removal tools for it was easier than finding out what it was.
Add/Remove programs removed it. It remained removed after a reboot.
No more Sleep/working items in the list of tasks.
Thanks,
Drew

 

[rvcjew]

Glad to hear you got it sorted, it can shutdown cleanly now?

 

[compupix]

Yes. It shuts down and reboots without any problem.

Thanks,
Drew

 

[SirDraycos]

Im glad this thread was here. Originally for me the program was listed as 'work' in my task manager. I tried cleaners and even malwarebytes and avast couldnt get at it. Until about half an hour ago when i was shutting down to go to sleep the name of the program changed to 'sleep'. With this new name I was able to find this thread.

SSN was indeed in my programs list and uninstalling it got rid of the entire problem. No more 'work' or 'sleep' in my task manager window! Looking at the details of the program 'SSN' its name is 'Save Serp Now'. Hopefully this helps someone in the future. Thanks again!