Desktop computer freezes when trying to shut down

[earlk]

I have Windows 10 with the latest update (1709 for x64) on my desktop computer. Recently, when I try to shutdown my computer, it begins the process and when it gets to the blue screen saying 'Shutting Down'... the computer freezes. I then have to do a 'hard' shutdown by pressing the power button on the tower. I have a feeling that the problem was in the recent major Windows Update.
I do not wish to continue to do hard shutdowns as I've heard this is not good for the computer.

Any suggestions for this issue?

[DaveLembke]

Why hard shutdowns "could" be bad is that if the hard drive or SSD is written to at the same time that it goes into a hard shutdown you can have a partially written file which makes for corruption and/or data loss. If no data is being written to the drive during the hard shutdown then your only at risk of whatever work you had open that wasnt already saved disappearing. If you perform a hard shutdown and the system is truly frozen without a write process happening then no damage will become of this.

That said however you never want to hard shutdown and then push the button on right away to boot. You will want the hard drive to spin down and come to rest first if there is one and wait about 10 seconds then boot the system back up if needed etc. If your system has a SSD you can wait 5 seconds and then reboot which gives the circuitry time to drain properly to avoid information from the prior run instance making its way to the next run instance of the system operation.

Event Log for the system might point out what is failing causing the hung state. Most of the time your looking at having to perform a Repair Installation of Windows or wipe the system clean and clean install of Windows to fix this.

There is a small chance it could be caused by a hardware failure such as a RAM stick that has an issue to which memory is addressed on shutdown that it becomes hung. Other possibility is that the hard drive or SSD itself has an issue and trying to write information on shutdown hits this bad drive area.

It could also be caused by a driver update that came along with the Windows update, however most Windows 10 updates that driver problems occurred with, it affects the driver for whatever device was changed and it affects operation of say the Network Adapter for the whole time that the system is running the latest Windows 10, however prior editions of Windows 10 ran fine.

Backing up your data to a cloud storage or external and then clean install of 10 is usually the path most take to solving this. However I would suggest running Memtest86 on this system first just to make sure that its not a RAM issue on shutdown causing this with the writeback to drive from RAM which happens during the shutdown process. Let this test run for about 5 full tests. Anything that shows up in RED means you have a problem with a memory address and a RAM stick is the likely cause. https://www.memtest86.com/

[earlk]

Thanks for your advice Dave.
I was unable to get the memory test to run, so that just leaves me with a complete Windows re-install. I hate to have to do that as I have a slow Internet connection, and that would take a very long time. Oh well.....   

[Mark.]

my two cents....

since it only happened after the WIn10 update, my guess would be perhaps some background software is not termination correctly when told to by Windows as it shuts down.
eg: your AV software, audio driver, cloud storage...

I would try running Secunia Personal Software Inspector and let it inform you of any outdated software.
may come to nought but hopefully avoids a fresh install of Windows.

[earlk]

I haven't used Secunia for many a year now. Time to give it another try... thanks for the suggestion, Mark.   

[Mark.]

another test to support my theory would be to start the PC in Safe Mode and see if it shuts down normally from there.
if it does, that may lend a bit of credence to my logic. 

[earlk]

Well, that's interesting. I can't get to change the settings so that the computer will boot into Safe mode. When trying, the computer gives me a blue screen saying that there were errors encountered and it will try to recover. It then restarts in normal mode. I've tried different methods.. getting the same result.   
For now, I'm simply not shutting it off at night. 

[Mark.]

don't know what you have tried but 3 ways I know of to get Win10 to start in safe mode.

1) hold down Shift key when you click Restart.
2) go into msconfig, Boot tab, and tick Safe boot and Restart.  (remember to untick once in Safe Mode or you'll always start in Safe Mode)
3) as Windows 10 starts, force it off by holding in power button, repeat 2 or 3 times and it'll pop up something like "failed to start, preparing Winodws" (or such) and it'll show the Advanced Startup Options menu.

[earlk]

I tried your first suggestion and it worked! Yea.

I was then able to boot into Safe mode, and then I shut down the computer successfully. After it booted back up into normal mode, I again tried to shut down. This time, instead of freezing like it did before, a blue screen said that it had found errors and would try and re-start... which it did. So I still can not shut down unless I do a 'hard' shutdown.

[Mark.]

sadly, one successful shutdown from Safe Mode may be too little to prove that point just yet. 
I would do a few and if successful then start believing we are on the right track.

since you got that slightly helpful message about 'repairing', let's go down that rabbit hole for now.
I would be doing 3 things next, start normally and from an elevated command prompt do

sfc /scannow
and
chkdsk c: /x/r      (ps: either of those switches implies /f so no need to include it)

once they are done, shutdown and cross your fingers, if it hangs, I would do my step 3 in how to get into Safe Mode and go into the ASO menu and do a repair of Windows.  (the one that says reload Windows but keep my apps and files)

[patio]

Just curious....why the /x switch ? ?

[earlk]

I would do a few and if successful then start believing we are on the right track.

I tried going into Safe mode the way I did before, by holding down the shift key when clicking on restart. This time, it did not work and when the blue
screen came up with 'restarting' on it.... the computer froze.... again. Back to square one.   
 
(I had tried going into safe mode using msconfig/Safe boot before, and this just did not work.)

[Mark.]

@patio

the /x switch forces a dismount of the drive if locked, I've just always used it now, out of habit, due to all the "that disk is locked, do you want to force a dismount?" questions Windows used to say.

[Mark.]

@earlk,

hmmm...
sounding like you have some deeper issues than first thought.

my first priority would be backups, however you want to do that, just get your personal files squared away.
for good measure, you may want to do a system image - although my next suggestion is to reload Windows anyway, never hurts to have an image up your sleeve.
I can recommend Macrium Reflect Free but anyone of the popular ones will do the job.

so that brings us to reloading.
and then you ask yourself whether you want to, or will simply leave the system as is.
if the issue is only a BSOD during shutdown, you could argue that isn't severe enough to warrant a rebuild.
but for me, it would drive me crazy not knowing why and could be the tip of the iceberg.

if you do consider the reload approach, I would use the Media Creation tool supplied by MS from here; https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
that will get you an ISO you can burn to a DVD or USB with Win10 version 1709 build 16299.15 (there's since been an update and Win10 is now build 16299.19)

[earlk]

I've got all my files, etc.  backed up to an external drive... so that's now in order.
I have a DVD with a boot disc for Win10 (repair disc).
I have gone to Macrium Reflect Free and am currently downloading their 'tool'.

I think I've gone as far as I'm comfortable with, and the next step will be to take my desktop in to a computer repair shop and will provide them with my DVD and USB stick with the media system image.

However, for now I'll just be leaving my computer running, instead of trying to shut it down at night, while I look for a repair facility.

Thanks Mark, for all your suggestions and help.   










9repair disk