System hangs anytime there is a restart either forced by update or selected from "start" button

Question

Model: p7-1227cWindows: Windows 7 Home Premium  Service Pack 1 (64-bit)Processor: AMD A10-5700 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 3.40 GHzRAM: 12 GBBIOS: JAS_704.rom v 7.04 (AMI 7.04, 3/16/2012)SMBIOS Version: 2.7 In recently applying a Windows update, my system loaded the update and required a restart. The system shut down showing the log off screen and stating not to turn my system off as it was applying the update. After appearing to fully complete the update during the log off process, the machine went to restart, however the monitor went blank and the power button on the monitor started blinking as if there was no signal to the monitor. Assuming that perhaps it was a monitor issue, I tested the monitor on several other PCs and also connected a different monitor to my HP Pavilion with no change - monitors all worked properly and the system would still hang on a blank screen anytime there was a restart. I also tried removing all USB devices (mouse, printer, keyboard) during a restart and the system still would hang. Next troubleshooting piece was to try and remove the updates and restore to a date prior to the issue - this also did not work or resolve my issue. I removed a number of software programs assuming that perhaps there was a conflict, including the removal of my anit-virus software and the system still would hang. I ran a scan and chkdsk with no reported errors. I also used the built-in tool from HP to check the HDD and all results show everything was ok. I looked in my event log to see if there was any information that might help me troubleshoot, but most of the logs seem to be generic information as it pertains to start up and shut down and the "hangs" on the various restarts. (See below) With still no solution, I finally did a factory reset to hopefully restore everything and eliminate the problem and that did not resolve it either. I tried it twice (once from the partition and once from recovery discs). After restoring my system to the factory reset, I went to HP and updated all my drivers to see if that eliminated the problem - still hangs on any restart. I installed all the Windows updates and still no change - would hang after each system restart. At this point, I don't know what else to try. I have looked to see if there is a BIOS update, but for this particular system, it doesn't appear HP has one - not even the original one is listed on the support driver/software download page.  I have been able to enter what appears to be a hybrid BIOS/HP Setup screen and select reset all settings, but that did not resolve the issue. In a nutshell, the system will start Windows completely fine from a cold boot. It will start if the machine is shut down through the log off process and is off for approximately 2 minutes. It will hang up if you use the restart option while in Windows from the start menu or if the system does a restart due to an update.  The only way to get out of the blank screen and "hung" system is to hold the power button until it powers down (defnitely not the ideal way to power down). I thought perhaps there was an issue with the temperature of the PC, but even on a cold boot after sitting all night, if you have the system instantly do a restart (less than a minute of the PC being on), the machine will hang up on a blank screen. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated - hopefully I have provided enough detail here to resolve the issue. The PC is not under factory warranty, but I do have the option to leverage the AMEX extended warranty, however that requires an estimate through a HP approved repair center which isn't very convenient.

Answer 1

Hi, Disconnect all devices other than the keyboard, mouse and monitor.  I don't think that hardware is causing the shutdown issue but you can never be sure that it's not hardware.  The HP hardware diagnostics might give you some confidence that hardware is not the issue. Run a fully virus and malware scan to make sure that the system is clean.  Run these Norton tools  or another similar product to make sure that your PC is clean. Another suggestion is to revert to a known good Windows restore point before the issued started. This might eliminate a bad Windows update. Typically a hang on shutdown is a result of a task/service not responding to a terminate request from Windows.  Since the same hang occurs under SAFE MODE, I suggest that you review the tasks and services running when in SAFE MODE and see if you can determine what possibly is causing the issue.  You might at this point consider doing a full HP recovery using the HP external recovery media.