Solved Windows 8.1 Restarts instead of Shutting Down

John256145

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I've tried the past few days trying to fix this unusual problem that came out of nowhere, but I still have not found a solution. More than a week ago, I noticed that whenever I told Windows to shutdown, it restarted instead. Every time this happens, the spinning circles next to the "Shutting down" text lags heavily.

System restore doesn't work. If I try to restore the system to an earlier point, it needs to restart. I get the "Preparing to Restore your system" window, but after the reboot, Windows seems to forget it was doing a system restore, and boots up normally. Because of this, I never get this screen or this window if I try a system restore,

I tried using sfc /scannow, but it only temporarily fixes the issue. The first shutdown I perform after sfc /scannow usually shuts down the computer successfully. However, the next shutdown just restarts the computer. Every time I use sfc /scannow, the command prompt says "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them." At the end, it says "The system file repair changes will take effect after the next reboot." I've never had the command prompt say it found no errors, even though I've tried sfc /scannow about 5 times already.

By default, Fast Startup was already turned off. If I turn it on and shutdown, the computer seems to shutdown successfully, but again, it was only a temporary fix. The next shutdown rebooted my computer.

There's also 2 things really interesting that's worth mentioning:
I wanted to use the Windows Memory Diagnostic to potentially fix the problem. I open the program and tell it to check for problems. The diagnostics test never appeared. It just restarted my computer normally.

I have two hard drives with different OSs (Windows 8.1 has the rebooting problem, Windows 7 does not) so I always get this screen when I boot up my computer. This is how I went to the command prompt: Change defaults or other options > Choose other options > Troubleshoot >Advanced options > Command Prompt. I clicked command prompt and my computer restarted, but no command prompt appeared. I click the exact same things again, and the computer reboots into the command prompt.

Also, I tried check disk and Startup Repair, which didn't help.

In summary: I can't get my computer to shut down without it restarting, and Windows seems to "forget" anything it was told to do after rebooting (can't perform a system restore or memory diagnostics, and sfc /scannow doesn't fix anything.)

Any help on what else I could do? This problem has been really frustrating.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP p6754y
    CPU
    AMD Athlon II X4 640
    Motherboard
    Foxconn 2AB1
    Memory
    4 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 4200
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Pavilion 2311x
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
I had no choice but to Refresh my PC. I couldn't find any other solution.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP p6754y
    CPU
    AMD Athlon II X4 640
    Motherboard
    Foxconn 2AB1
    Memory
    4 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 4200
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Pavilion 2311x
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
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