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As an administrator, you often need to troubleshoot
problems with startup and shutdown. The sections that follow look at
techniques for resolving common problems.
Resolving Restart or Shutdown Issues
Normally, you can shut down or restart Windows 8 by using the Power
options. When working with the Start screen or the desktop, this means
to shut down or restart a server, you follow these steps:
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Display options by sliding in from the right side of the screen or
by moving the mouse pointer to the lower right side of the screen. -
Tap or click Settings, and then tap or click Power. -
Tap or click Shut Down or Restart as appropriate.
In a standard configuration, you also can press the computer’s
physical power button to initiate an orderly shutdown by logging off
and then shutting down. While all of these approaches normally work,
Windows 8 sometimes won’t shut down or restart normally, and you must
take additional actions. In those cases, follow these steps:
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Press Ctrl+Alt+Del. The Windows screen should be displayed. Tap or
click Task Manager. If the detailed view isn’t shown, tap or click More
Details. -
On the Processes tab, look for an application or process that is not
responding. If all applications appear to be running normally, skip to
step 5. -
Select the application that is not responding, and then tap or click End Task. -
If the application fails to respond to the request, you’ll see a
prompt that allows you to end the application immediately or cancel the
end-task request. Tap or click End Now. -
Try shutting down or restarting the computer. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to
display the Windows screen again, tap or click the Power button in the
lower right corner of the screen, and then tap or click Restart or Shut
Down as appropriate.
Windows 8 will also log off the current user and shut down the
computer if you press the computer’s power button. If any programs fail
to respond, you’ll have the option to force the logoff, or you can
simply wait a few seconds for Windows to force the logoff.
Note
REAL WORLD As a last resort,
you might be forced to perform a hard shutdown by pressing and holding
down the computer’s power button or by unplugging the computer. If you
do this, Check Disk will probably run the next time you start the
computer. This allows the computer to check for errors and problems
that might have been caused by the hard shutdown. If Check Disk doesn’t
run automatically, you might want to run it manually.
Making Sense of Stop Errors
If a major error occurs while Windows 8 is starting, installing a program, or performing another operation, you’ll see a Stop error message across the entire screen. Read this information carefully and write down the following information:
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Error name The error name should be on the third line of the error screen and is listed in all caps, such as KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR. -
Troubleshooting recommendations
The error name is followed by the troubleshooting recommendations.
These recommendations are based on the type of error that occurred and
provide general guidelines on resolving the problem. -
Error number The
troubleshooting recommendations are followed by technical information.
On the next line after the Technical Information heading, you’ll see
the word STOP, an error
number, and a list of error parameters. The error number following Stop
is what you should write down, such as STOP: 0X00000050. -
Driver information
Immediately following the line with the Stop error number is a line
that lists the name of the driver associated with the error. This
information is provided only if the error can be traced to a specific
driver. Write down the driver name.
If the system is configured to write an event to the event logs if a
Stop error occurs, and it was possible to write the event before the
system crashed completely, the error number and error parameters will
be written to an event in the System log with an event source of Save
Dump. The event will also specify whether a dump file was created and
where it was saved, if applicable.
Note
REAL WORLD Windows 8 includes an Online
Crash Analysis feature that allows you to send the dump file to
Microsoft Product Support Services. If error reporting is enabled, you
will be prompted to send this debugging information to Microsoft when
you restart the
system. You have the option of sending the debugging information
anonymously or using your Microsoft Connect account. If you send the
debugging information with your name and contact information through
Microsoft Connect, a technician might contact you for further
information and might also be able to suggest an action to correct the
problem.
Once you have the Stop error information, you might need to start the system in safe mode. You can then look to resolve the problem by performing the following tasks:
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Look up the Stop error on the Microsoft Knowledge Base Visit support.microsoft.com
and perform a search of the Knowledge Base using the error number as
the keyword. If a known problem is related to the error code, you
should find a related Knowledge Base article. As appropriate, follow
the instructions given to resolve the issue. -
Check the driver (if driver information was provided)
When you reboot the system, check the driver to be sure it is digitally
signed. If the driver has been updated recently, you might consider
rolling back to the previous driver version. Just because the driver is
listed doesn’t mean the driver is corrupt and needs replacing, however.
The Stop error could have been caused by other factors. -
Determine what has changed recently Stop
errors can be caused by both hardware and software. Closely review any
programs or hardware that have been installed recently on the computer.
If you added new hardware, check to be sure that the hardware is
installed correctly; that the latest, signed drivers are installed; and
that the hardware is properly configured. If you added new software,
check to be sure that the installation completed successfully. You
might also want to check for updates or patches to the software. -
Check system resources Stop
errors can occur if the system becomes critically low on RAM or disk
space. Once you get the system started, check the drives to determine
the amount of free space available and, as necessary, free additional
disk space using Disk Cleanup or other tools. Also, open Task Manager
by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del and tapping or clicking Task Manager. Look at
the Performance tab to check the amount of physical and virtual RAM
available. If very little memory is available, determine which programs
are using memory and whether there are problem programs, such as adware
or spyware, running. -
Repair system files Stop
errors can be caused by damaged or improper versions of system files.
If you suspect a system file is the cause of the problem and the system
won’t boot properly, you might need to repair the operating system or
reinstall the operating system . -
Check hardware and firmware
Stop errors can be caused by faulty hardware. If a computer frequently
crashes, you might want to examine the hardware closely. Check the
hardware drivers first; a driver might be causing the Stop errors.
Check the physical hardware. Look specifically at the hard disks, RAM,
CPU, and graphics card. A hard disk might be going bad, RAM might be
defective, the CPU might have overheated, or the graphics card might be
incompatible with Windows 8. Also, look at the firmware. Check the
settings carefully. In addition, you might check whether an update is
available from the motherboard’s manufacturer.
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