Question Win 11 Pro fresh install power plan causes explorer.exe to fail.

[Batmeat]

I have no idea why. Fresh install of Win 11 Pro, all updates. I have installed zero programs/apps. As soon as the power plan darkens the screen, explorer.exe fails. You can wake the computer up by moving the mouse, but now every program you try to run will open minimized and can't be maximized. For instance...I click the file explorer or even edge icon on the task bar. it opens minimized. you can hover the mouse over it and see that it's open cause it brings up the little mini window thing, but you can't close it and you cant maximize the screen. The only way to fix it is to ctrl-alt-del and start the taskmanager and restart explorer.exe.

I have no idea how to fix this aside from changing the power plan so that the screen is always on. This is on desktop. any ideans?

 

[Batmeat]

I can find nothing on this. Found a workaround though. Turn the power plan so the computer and monitor are always on. Use the video card software to start a screensaver after X amount of time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It seems to me that there must be more to the story, than just "default power plan" causes explorer.exe crashes. Otherwise, we would be hearing about this a lot more often.

I have a feeling that it has something to do with your drivers on your system, in the way that they handle the power-management events, and not the plan itself in specific.

Edit: Or just bad RAM. Did you test your RAM?

 

[igor_kavinski]

Sounds like some corruption.

FIX: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...em-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

 

[Batmeat]

System file checker finds nothing. The ram is about 1-2 years old. I’ll check it tomorrow. Hash check of windows 11 setup files is unremarkable so it can’t be driver related.

 

[Batmeat]

Update. It’s a ram stick. Did the windows memory test. The test froze using the extended test setting on the first pass at 21%. It sat at 21% for three hours and using keyboard didn’t work. Next thing I’ll do is get memtest86 (if it’s still around and updated…I haven’t used it in years) and run it one stick of ram at a time.

EDIT.. apparently the windows memory checker is known to freeze at 21%. Screw it. Just going with memtest86

Here’s what the computer is running…
CORSAIR Vengeance DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 5600 (PC5-44800) C36 1.25V Intel XMP Memory - Black

https://a.co/d/9KYyFTD

 

[igor_kavinski]

Corsair. They pick their ram chips from the garbage bin.

 

[Batmeat]

Next update. Memtest86 checks out both sticks. Looking through motherboard and hard disk issues now.

 

[Batmeat]

Corsair. They pick their ram chips from the garbage bin.

They have definitely gone downhill. This set unfortunately is good. Coursera seems more interested in peripherals now like their liquid cooling/all in one coolers and power supplies.

Motherboard checks out with everything. I have it updated to the latest drivers and bios. The only thing that doesn’t work after I updated the bios was the XMP profile on the memory. Now I have to run it at 40–40 – 40–77 instead of 36–36–36–75.

 

[burninatortech4]

Possible to return the set and get another kit? Settling for CAS 40 would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Since you are still troubleshooting and the system isn't being used for anything too critical at the moment, maybe you can install Windows 10 on it and see how that fares stability wise (you may have to deal with wonky core scheduling behavior if your CPU has E-cores but at least, you may be able to find out if the issue is your hardware or some incompatibility with Windows 11).

 

[Batmeat]

Possible to return the set and get another kit? Settling for CAS 40 would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Yea I'm working on it with corsair currently.

Since you are still troubleshooting and the system isn't being used for anything too critical at the moment, maybe you can install Windows 10 on it and see how that fares stability wise (you may have to deal with wonky core scheduling behavior if your CPU has E-cores but at least, you may be able to find out if the issue is your hardware or some incompatibility with Windows 11).

Great Idea, I'll do it tomorrow, setup as a multiboot.

 

[A///]

Corsair's ram has always been dumpy. They slap their name on a few good products that's all.

 

[Batmeat]

Update dual boot win 10 pro and win 11 pro….. windows 10 has zero issues with the power save feature. I’m at a loss now.

Still working with Corsair to get a replacement.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Update dual boot win 10 pro and win 11 pro….. windows 10 has zero issues with the power save feature. I’m at a loss now.

I think it's clear. Win11 sucks!

You could try reporting the bug to Microsoft. They MIGHT fix it in the next quarterly update.

Try removing all the drivers in Windows 11 or re-install Windows 11 and don't let it connect to the internet to update anything and see if the power save issue still happens.

 

[A///]

it doesn't suck, there isn't a good rate of qc on windows anymore not like it was good in the past.

 

[lopri]

Potentially corrupted installation media. Are you using a custom ISO?

 

[Batmeat]

Update…. Finally. It was the memory. New sticks from Corsair and the issue is gone. Very weird considering they passed memtest86. To date I did a reinstall, dual boot win 11/10. I used a slipstreamed version of Win 11 and an iso download directly from Microsoft. Super frustrating!!!