Start up/Shutdown problems

colif · 25 Feb 2016

where to start...

In December I installed a GTX 980 in my machine and since then started getting strange behavior randomly at Start up. it didn't happen every start so I could live with it for a while but it was starting to bug me.

As I have PC set to auto logon, it would start and then pause at the screen in between the logon screen and desktop and think about it for a while, and then instead of loading desktop it would give me a blank desktop and no taskbar. Cursor works but not a lot more, Ctrl Alt Del brings up the lock screen and if I select shutdown or restart it would turn screen off but PC would just stay on and not shut off regardless of how long I leave it. I would have to hit reset at this stage amd then PC would start as if nothing was wrong.

I solved this error once by uninstalling Nvidia drivers using DDU in safe mode, and allowing windows to use its defaults instead of the drives off Nvidia site.

This fixed it for a few weeks until a windows update seemed to cause it to start happening again. As the drivers in control panel appeared to be the ones windows had installed the previous time, I started looking for alternate causes for the problem.

Microsoft weren't very helpful, they just suggested I see if a clean boot works but that doesn't help me work out what program is the cause.

I asked on Tomshardware and they suggested I uninstall & reinstall an Intel management program, reinstall Nvidia drivers again or do a fresh install. I have done all of their suggestions now, though I ran a reset (settings>update & security>Recovery>reset this pc (I kept my files)) instead of a fresh install since I couldn't work out how to boot PC from USB so I took this route. It isn't obvious in the BIOS.

On Tuesday I did the reset and start up seemed to be fine. I haven't installed that many programs yet as I wasn't sure.. mainly as shutdowns were still strange.

Another problem I had noticed was shut down takes about 20 seconds now and it used to be about 5 a few months ago. I have a Samsung EVO 850 SSD so it should be faster than that. This problem seemed to live through the reset so I was curious what was happening there, I figured the reset would fix any problems I had.

Anyway, today the PC did the "no desktop at start up trick" again and I was not amused. The reset didn't fix it at all

I reset BIOS in December, is it possible there is a setting there that is causing this? It is set to defaults.

Is there anyway I can figure out what is going on?

If I run the reset but tell it to delete all my files, will it only delete the boot drive or, since i have my documents and music etc on a separate drive, and the windows libraries are mapped to them, will it delete all those too?

colif · 26 Feb 2016

I bit the bullet and did a fresh install. I have to assume it will fix this problem but I have said that before so I am not installing anything for a few days except the essentials (Office since I need it for assignments) just in case the start up thing happens again.

pete1208 · 26 Feb 2016

Uninstall Intel management programs. They are quiet the resource hog. Uninstall every old app you can. Uninstall your anti-virus. Look at task manager / startup tab to narrow down the list.

Do you have a G-SYNC display? If so, that could be it. Unplug the display and re-connect (from the wall outlet) to re-set that device. I've had problems with those on win 10.

colif · 26 Feb 2016

I started again, fresh windows install onto a blank SSD. Took a while to work out I had to delete all partitions on C before Win 10 would even let me install onto drive. I had deleted the C partition, and kept getting errors about wrong format or something, so I wiped all the SSD and kept trying and it eventually let me install.

The recovery I tried on Tuesday clearly didn't delete all my settings even though it said it would. The fresh install I did last night did though. Taking my time installing everything now so I can maybe identify the problem. I am hoping to not have it return. It took three days to return last time so we shall see.

Start and shutdown are okay so far, shutdown is only taking about 10 seconds now

I have a Free Sync monitor with a GTX 980... yes, I know they don't work in sync mode but I live in a hot region and wanted a cool card. That and monitor is 4k and very few cards can run games in 4k yet so I figured, maybe next time I get an AMD.

colif · 28 Feb 2016

Turns out I was looking in the wrong place, the cause was actually my speakers.

I noticed I had no sound tonight and I decided to restart to see if it fixed it. I got a really slow start up and I was having de ja vu before it finally loaded desktop. I d/c speakers and restarted pc. Faster than usual start.. I had speakers attached via optical cable but swapped to analog. The start up was strange and I still couldn't get any sound out of rear speakers - which had happened last week before the fresh install but the speakers had worked in 5.1 before I reset windows on Tuesday.

I decided to swap to my steelseries headset instead, and boot/shutdown back to as fast as I remember them being a few months ago. 37 seconds boot, faster shutdown.

Sad speakers are cause, I have had them for 13 years. I will attach them to my ps4 and see if they work with it still