Windows powers off while the PC remains active.
Windows powers off while the PC remains active.
I'm unsure if this is the best location. I'm using Windows 8.1 and when I click shut down, the system powers off while the monitor stays on with lights and fans active. After about five minutes it restarts. If I restart again it doesn't work. This has been ongoing for nearly two weeks and I haven't found a solution. I have to press the power button for five seconds to turn it off. I've reset power settings in the control panel, cleared CMOS, but nothing helped. I changed the power button behavior and disabled Hybrid Shutdown yet it still fails. I recall similar problems before building this PC last year—last time I fixed it without details. If you need more help, please let me know. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Your system specs:
- Intel i7 4770K @ 3.9GHz
- 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RAM (2400MHz)
- Gigabyte Z87X-UD5 TH (latest BIOS)
- Gigabyte GTX 780Ti GHz Edition @ 1270MHz OC
- Revodrive 3x 2 480GB (OS & games)
- Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 10 850W
- Windows 8.1 64-bit
Open Device Manager, expand System devices, and look for entries starting with "ACPI." Verify they are blue and enabled. Right-click each and run Update driver software, then select Search Online. Confirm all drivers are current. ACPI drivers let Windows communicate with hardware for power management. ACPI stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. Previously, we had to manage this because Windows couldn't properly shut down hardware. If ACP/ACM settings are wrong or Windows loses its awareness of ACPI compliance (due to a faulty driver or installation), it can lead to problems like yours. Back then, BIOS options for ACP(I) or ACM existed, but they’re often hard-coded on. You might want to check the Power section in your BIOS just to be safe. Another chance is a crash during shutdown before the system powers down—review System logs in Event Viewer for power or kernel errors around shutdown time.
All components are current, I think they’re active—there’s a blue icon resembling a monitor. No power or kernel errors appear in the Event Viewer. Would you like to check the Windows Logs under System instead? (I’m new to Event Viewer.) I didn’t notice anything in the BIOS either.
I recently saw the debug LED on my motherboard showing error code 51, which according to the manual indicates a Memory Initialization Error. It looks like the RAM itself appears fine. I’m still unsure what to do next. From what I recall, this issue began shortly after testing my OCZ Revodrive 3x 2 on a friend’s PC to check its PCIe 1x performance. The Revodrive hosts the operating system and applications. Additionally, login times seem to be affected.
I've never had a problem with it in the 6 months I've had it. I don't have spare SSD or HDD space for it. I could use my system image backup but that was made after this issue started, or I could do a reinstall of windows but that would take days to get everything back to how it was. The issue isn't booting it, it's shutting it down. Everyone else with code 51 on my mobo has issues starting it up and mostly with hackingtosh systems.
You're facing a tricky issue. The error 51 appears right after Windows starts, which suggests a hardware or driver problem. Despite reinstalling Windows and checking BIOS settings, your PC freezes during startup and won't shut down properly. Some monitoring tools are working, but the system becomes unresponsive unless you restart. This could be related to the CPU-Z or similar software freezing under load. Consider trying a clean boot or checking for pending updates.
I resolved the issue by performing a complete Windows reinstall. The error code 51 disappeared, and both CPU-Z and Hardware Monitor are functioning properly now.