Computer won't restart! (Solved!)

[ibex333]

Please see my rig specs in the signature. My desktop will not restart. Upon restarting, it says "restarting" then everything goes black, but computer stays on, fans spinning but no video signal. If I just shut it off with the power button and turn it back on, it will start up fine.

It is NOT my PSU or my mobo because under windows 7, it would restart just fine. Under Windows 10 this weird problem started..


I reinstalled windows to make sure it's not some kind of bad setting. Still the same damn thing happens.

I looked this up on Google and some people do have this issue, but there is no concrete solution.


Anyone heard of something like this?

 

[deustroop]

What build is involved ? Do you have any information on whether the system is booting into windows successfully, ex video of course ? Are you able to reach the bios on a reboot ?

 

[mikeymikec]

When you say "it would restart on Win7 fine", how long ago did it last do this OK on Win7?

The reason why I ask is that it seems more likely to me that this isn't software related. I also think it's more likely that an older computer might have trouble shutting down than rebooting on a modern (8x/10) version of Windows because of the fast boot feature. You could try disabling that feature anyway but AFAIK it only affects the shutdown to boot cycle rather than the restart cycle (which is the more thorough way to get Windows 8x/10 to clear the decks and start over).

Another thought - try an Ubuntu live CD, tell it to reboot and see if it works as expected.

 

[ibex333]

Yes, I'll try this! Thanks.

As for how long ago I was ok with Windows 7, it was around a week ago.


This is really puzzling, because the fact that this is an older PC should have nothing to do with it. I was using a Pentium 4 box with Win 10 and it restarted just fine....

 

[ibex333]

When you say "it would restart on Win7 fine", how long ago did it last do this OK on Win7?

The reason why I ask is that it seems more likely to me that this isn't software related. I also think it's more likely that an older computer might have trouble shutting down than rebooting on a modern (8x/10) version of Windows because of the fast boot feature. You could try disabling that feature anyway but AFAIK it only affects the shutdown to boot cycle rather than the restart cycle (which is the more thorough way to get Windows 8x/10 to clear the decks and start over).

Another thought - try an Ubuntu live CD, tell it to reboot and see if it works as expected.

alright, so I booted from a Ubuntu Live CD and restarted. Computer went through the restart process just fine. So it looks like it does have something to do with Windows 10 after all...

 

[NatePo717]

Check your group policy and make sure your user has the right to restart? It's an odd one but who knows.

 

[ibex333]

Check your group policy and make sure your user has the right to restart? It's an odd one but who knows.

Nope, that's not it. This policy is not configured.

 

[Ketchup]

Get the latest drivers you can find from the manufacturer's websites, specifically chipset and video card. Some motherboards will also have a newer bios in order to handle uefi better.

 

[ibex333]

Done it, and still computer just goes dark during restart and never boots up again.

 

[Ketchup]

Remove the overclock and see if the problem continues.

Was your re-install a fresh install or an upgrade from 7?

As has been mentioned, an aging power supply can cause issues like this, even though it worked fine with Ubuntu.

Is there anything with an exclamation or question mark in device manager? And if not, is that because you updated drivers or because Windows 10 seemed to find everything?

 

[ibex333]

Tried without overclock, still wont restart.


Win 10 was an upgrade from 7. I will try two things now:


1)Swap for an empty hard drive and install a fresh copy of Win 7 and see if it will restart.
2)Swap the PSU for another one and see if it restarts.

Yes, there were some critical system errors. Most had to do with bad registry entries or missing drivers, all of which I resolved by googling for them.

Had one BSOD: "WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR" while playing a game.

I looked it up, says it's either a bad driver or overclock problem. I ran prime95 all night and the BSOD never came up again.

 

[Ketchup]

I would suggest a clean Windows 10 instal (without Windows 7 involved at all). If you haven't tried it yet, here is the link to the download:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10ISO

 

[ibex333]

Finally found what the problem was. It had nothing to do with hardware and everything to do with software. There is a program I "loved to use" called "Driver Booster". I always employed it to make sure all drivers are up to date. But in this case, one of the drivers it installed was causing the restart issue. I rolled back all installed drivers to make sure, and restart was magically fixed. Reinstalled drivers, and restart was broken again. It would be very tedious to go through all the drivers to pinpoint which one it was because around 20 was installed, but from this point on, I will be very careful with Driver Booster, if not avoid it completely.

PS: The reason why the issue was so difficult to find, is because I have a habit of installing Driver Booster and running it as soon as I install Windows. It's literally the first thing I do. So it was easy for me to assume the issue was Windows or hardware related.

 

[VirtualLarry]

"Driver Booster"? LOL. Really now...

 

[VirtualLarry]

Sounds like those "SpeedUpMyPC" programs, that you see banner ads for, claiming that you can speed up your PC 150%, by just installing their crapware.

 

[mikeymikec]

Avoid it completely and any other program that claims to speed up your computer. I'm glad to hear that you got to the bottom of it though.

 

[Ketchup]

Glad you figured it out. Can you post a link to where you found that program? I hope it's legit and just isn't quite ready for 10, but on the surface it sounds like a spyware magnet.

 

[ibex333]

This is the link: http://www.iobit.com/en/driver-booster.php

I always thought these guys were legit.

 

[mikeymikec]

Ah, good ol' iobit. The miracle cream makers of the 21st century.

 

[Torn Mind]

Generally speaking, if a computer cold boots fine and runs stable, the hardware is fine and something is wrong with the software.

 

[Oyeve]

I recently was running some MSI auto driver update on my mobo and was getting similar issues. Rolled back the PC and uninstalled it and all is normal again. These autodriver programs really do suck on windows 10.