W11 - Computer turns on after shutdown

Hey, I just swapped my PSU recently (EVGA 750w to Thermaltake gf3 1000w) along with a new GPU installation (for 4090 install) and then later some SSDs (m2 and SATA SSD). My mobo is the AORUS z690 pro on f21 with 12700kf; Kingston fury 5200 32GB. I'm on w11. The PC has been shutting off fine with the previous PSU (EVGA 750w) and has been working for about two weeks with the new PSU (TT GF3 1000W) before the latest installation of two new SSDs. However, after installing SSDs, I started having shutdown issues.

The issue: my PC constantly turns back on after shutting down (shutdown /p, front panel, etc.) (double-checked f_panel connections). I've turned off all the fast boot/wake on lan software things, and it still boots up after a shutdown. I can still put the PC to sleep, but the only way to shut off the PC is by holding the front power for 5s. I've tried removing all peripherals (USB etc.) and booted into safe mode, and nothing helps - the PC turns on after shutting down.

So far, I've done DDU re Nvidia drivers and reverted to bios f5 (and then f7) while troubleshooting. I have reset the CMOS battery on my mobo while taking out the two SSDs to troubleshoot. I've repetitively disabled power on wake re USBs in the device manager and tried to shut down in BIOs w/ no USBs + ethernet connected - the PC still restarts. I've also checked the powercfg cmds and it doesn't show any wake events or any wake_armed devices.

Besides the restart upon shutdown, the PC works fine, and I can generally use the sleep function (however, it seems to wake up around 10 hrs or so).

I am running out of ideas. What else can I do to troubleshoot? Is it a PSU issue, or perhaps mobo/and or front panel? I have a PSU tester arriving soon, and I might swap back to my older EVGA 750w and my previous GPU (3070) to check. I appreciate any help you can provide.

Hey, @bobshaw5000, and welcome to the forums!

You've tackled just about everything I would have checked myself, and since it initially it worked with the older PSU and then the new PSU, but stopped working when you added the SSDs, are either of the SSDs system drives, or were both added as data drives?

Also, have you tried the old PSU (just don't play any power intensive games and the 4090 should be fine with it) to see if the thing shuts off correctly?

Finally, did you keep the same Windows install or cleanly install after all the hardware additions?

@johnlgalt The SSDs were just added as data drives for storage expansion purposes (gpt drives) formatted using EaseUS partition master.

I have not tried the old EVGA 750w PSU for fear of 4090 adapter burn + watt concerns hence the TT GF3 1k watts upgrade, but I can give it a go.

I kept the same Windows install after hardware additions. I initially used DDU for the GPU driver, and it worked fine 100% until I installed the two SSDs down the line.

The 4090 won't pull nearly close to full watts just on the Windows desktop, which is all you need to get to in order to test the shutdown. It should be perfectly fine.

There has to be a setting or something somewhere that is causing it to come back on, usually something like fast startup is the cause, but it may be something more insidious, such as the BIOS reporting hte SSDs as HDDs instead, or even something really weird like Windows having set the new SSDs to removable drives that don't flush the write buffers and thus must maintain power to complete those operations.

It's Windows lol.

Anything on your motherboard doing the same thing for other Win 10 / 11 users?

Also, are you doing a normal nVidia driver install, and not using any utilities to remove parts of the drivers system? either way, you might try another driver install (don't worry about DDU) - just do an advanced install, select driver only no GeForce experience), then uncheck PhysX and HDAUdio, and finally check the box near the bottom to perform a clean install.

I have done a driver-only install just now (no GeForce exp, no HDAudio or Physx), and it still restarted after the shutdown went through like before. I will try putting in the 750w EVGA this week with the adapter + 4090 and let you know how it goes.

Also, to your question re issues with my particular mobo - I have seen some bios issues re F20-F21 for the z690 DDR5 versions but not precisely the Aorus Z690 pro, which is what prompted me to downgrade from F20 to F5 -- F7. Initially, prior 4090/Thermaltake, I was running F5. After installing PSU and GPU, I upped to F20, and it was okay until the later SSD installations.

Another (maybe stupid) thing to try - remove the SSDs and see if it stays shut down. One by one, naturally, to see if it is either one or the other *or both*.

These are the types of issues that cause tech to prematurely lose their hair - because we keep pulling them out in frustration when we try 17 things and nothing fixes the issue lol.

Oh yea I have done the removal of the SSDs (forgot to mention)- one at a time and both for the 2nd run during my CMOS reset troubleshooting. It still restarted after a shutdown.

Last time i had this issue was running Windows 98. Manage to solve it by editing a registry entry - which not that surprising - is still present in Windows 11. Tho, can't say for sure if it still works or not - cause Microsoft devs are well known to be lazy at cleaning old/redundant settings - which either don't work anymore or need custom mods. In this specific case - it's all up to the OEM who made your mobo (the BIOS in particular).

Open registry (win + R, type regedit) - copy the following line in the address bar: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and search for PowerdownAfterShutdown - should be set to 0 modify to 1.

I don't see how the PSU could cause that. At first, seems more like a wake feature - but i see you already mentioned about checking powercfg for waketimers. You could also try Disabling Hibernate:

Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable hibernate and restore or delete the hiberfil.sys file in Windows 11. Hibernate is a power-saving state designed primarily for laptops, and might not be available for all PCs. (For example, PCs with Modern Standby may not have hibernate...

www.elevenforum.com

In case you don't have that feature - Disable Modern Standby:

Disable Modern Standby in Windows 10 and Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to disable Modern Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) to enable S3 support on a Windows 10 and Windows 11 device. In Windows 10 and Windows 11, there are two power models for PCs: S3 and Modern Standby (S0 Low Power Idle). The S3 power model is an older standard and is...

www.elevenforum.com

Just to see if a proper shutdown/reset - helps in any way.

PS. Do you have a cat?! That too - can be the culprit - at times...

@neves

I have disabled hibernate along with setting Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and search for PowerdownAfterShutdown to 1. The computer still restarts after shutdown.

Re: modern standby, I'm not sure if my board has that option (no S0) so I did not disable.

PS - I do not own a cat lol

Can’t see how maybe leaving sleep enabled in power settings can cause PC to boot up after shutdown but would go to power settings and remove all sleep features anyway. Also choose High Performance for power plan.

Is tough type of problem to figure out tried just about everything although it can be hardware issue (motherboard ..PSU) it’s usually a Windows issue when researched.

Sure made no changes software related during two weeks it worked with new hardware ? Any maintenance type software could trigger this ? Checked Event Viewer see any critical or warning errors ?

Run sfc /scannow in elevated command prompt ….

Know can be time consuming to try other PSU even though does not sound like something PSU would do if bad.
A lot has been mentioned already from my knowledge I’d be stumped. Does this without new drives ? Might of seen this mentioned as trying one at a time not both.

Did you upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 if so have you ever done a clean install lately ?
If all else fails might have to try this unless keep checking for software or Windows issues.

Also recheck all connection inside PC you made since upgrade for tight connections .

I may have missed it in your posts but didn't see whether or not you have used the power menu to shut down. Does it shut down and stay shut down from there?

Does your power supply have a on/off switch? If it does, let the computer shutdown by hitting the shutdown option in Windows. Then use the switch on the power supply to turn off the power supply. Unplug the power supply from the outlet if it doesn't. Hit the power switch on the computer to discharge any stored electric. Then turn the power supply back on or plug it back in. If the computer stays off, it's a software problem. If it turns back on, it's a hardware problem.

Winuser said:

Does your power supply have a on/off switch? If it does, let the computer shutdown by hitting the shutdown option in Windows. Then use the switch on the power supply to turn off the power supply. Unplug the power supply from the outlet if it doesn't. Hit the power switch on the computer to discharge any stored electric. Then turn the power supply back on or plug it back in. If the computer stays off, it's a software problem. If it turns back on, it's a hardware problem.

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Nice !! Would that mean motherboard or PSU you think If hardware issue ?

Could be either, actually. Could be something as simple as the hardware switch to power on the mainboard when testing is stuck pressed down. Could mean that the management 4 pin connection for the ATX 3.0 PSU is receiving a bad signal from the video card.... Which then means it could be the Video card putting out a bad signal, or it could be the management pins receiving a bad signal due to a short or some other issue...

jds63 said:

Nice !! Would that mean motherboard or PSU you think If hardware issue ?

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It's really hard to say. If it leans toward being hardware, the first thing I would look for is for any loose connections inside the computer. The second thing I would try is swapping out the power supply with the old one.

Winuser said:

the first thing I would look for is for any loose connections inside the computer.

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Yeah mentioned this too.

johnlgalt said:

Could be either, actually. Could be something as simple as the hardware switch to power on the mainboard when testing is stuck pressed down. Could mean that the management 4 pin connection for the ATX 3.0 PSU is receiving a bad signal from the video card.... Which then means it could be the Video card putting out a bad signal, or it could be the management pins receiving a bad signal due to a short or some other issue...

Click to expand...

Lot's point towards software related, but can't ever rule out hardware especially when was added and changed recently.

jds63 said:

Lot's point towards software related, but can't ever rule out hardware especially when was added and changed recently.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. And you're spot on when you said earlier:

jds63 said:

Is tough type of problem to figure out tried just about everything although it can be hardware issue (motherboard ..PSU) it’s usually a Windows issue when researched.

Click to expand...

It *usually* is a power issue in the OS, but my MSI mobo-based system does this sporadically as well, and I've given up trying to fix it, just counting the days until I replace it with a new build.

johnlgalt said:

Yeah, I know. And you're spot on when you said earlier:



It *usually* is a power issue in the OS, but my MSI mobo-based system does this sporadically as well, and I've given up trying to fix it, just counting the days until I replace it with a new build.

Click to expand...

Still have issue posted on here i can't figure it out, but feel might have fixed it without knowing and that bothers me a bit not knowing.
Freezes then restarts nvlddmkm.sys

@glasskuter I almost always use the power menu to initiate the shutdown. I've also used the command prompt (shutdown /s) to do so during my troubleshooting process which didn't stop the issue.

@Winuser I've actually done that when I was taking SSDs out one by one to test if they were the problem source/CMOS clearing etc. The PC turned on as soon as the power cable was connected (with the PSU switch on) to the power strip, so I think it might be the new PSU's fault (or maybe GPU's). Hopefully, I can check the PSU when my PSU tester arrives during the weekend.

Things I haven't tested thus far: 1. testing whether the 4090 hardware is at fault (ie trying to start it w/o that) or 2. running the 4090 with my previous PSU (EVGA 750w).

The weirdest thing is everything works fine inside the OS and operates 100% normally (intensive gaming, watching media, etc.). No issues beyond the restart right after shutdown. I had some issues with the Sleep function, but I turned off my Ethernet Controller (3) I225V wake in power mgmt, and it was fine.