Windows stopped working

[unplanned bacon]

This has happened three times. Once when the computer wasn't doing anything and it just rebooted (I was using my old motherboard), another time when it just stopped on a blue screen (not a BSOD, but the desktop and it was blue) and just now trying to ALT+Tab back into Tomb Raider, computer just said nope and rebooted itself without warning. Pretty sure I've lost my progress now :/

Times like this make me think staying console only would have been better, haven't got time to be dealing with this stuff. Any idea why? Two different hardware configurations, same result

It's an Event 41. Seriously? Two different PSUs, 2 different motherboards, different Hard Drives and still this problem exists

EDIT: Don't know if this helps, but it was when I tried to ALT+Tab back into Tomb Raider. It looked like it was attempting to for about a second, then the screen went completely and I heard the fans spin down and it rebooted. Graphics driver maybe?

 

[terry4536]

Did you create a boot disc? If so try booting to that disc. Then run the Windows trouble shooter.

If you have to do a clean install, definitely create a "Windows Repair Disc" and a system image so that it is easier to recover your system.

I've not seen a problem like this that wasn't hardware related.

 

[terry4536]

Here is an article on Event 41.

http://www.sevenforums.com/bsod-help-support/195451-kernel-power-event-41-a.html

 

[unplanned bacon]

Did you create a boot disc? If so try booting to that disc. Then run the Windows trouble shooter.

If you have to do a clean install, definitely create a "Windows Repair Disc" and a system image so that it is easier to recover your system.

I've not seen a problem like this that wasn't hardware related.

I have previously done this for a different problem

 

[unplanned bacon]

Did you create a boot disc? If so try booting to that disc. Then run the Windows trouble shooter.

If you have to do a clean install, definitely create a "Windows Repair Disc" and a system image so that it is easier to recover your system.

I've not seen a problem like this that wasn't hardware related.

The only parts in there that are the same are Hard Drives. All health checks are fine for those, GPU, no reason to believe it's broken, CPU (overheated once because CPU fan wasn't in fully), RAM (tested hundreds of times, has always passed).

EDIT: and the optical drives. I'm not about to spend more money buying more hardware, not knowing if it will actually do anything. Why can't Event 41 be more speciic

 

[terry4536]

Have you tried chkdsk or WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic on the hard drive?

And by the way, a new SSD would be an easy transfer to another new system,.

 

[unplanned bacon]

Have you tried chkdsk or WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic on the hard drive?

And by the way, a new SSD would be an easy transfer to another new system,.

Crystal Disk Info
WD Lifeguard
Samsung Magician
Hard Disc Sentinel

Have all checked the drives and passed them
But, I remember one failed its SMART test over a year ago, so I retested and it's passed ever since. I had other problems before that test though. Literally, this is the only issue remaining, oh and explorer.exe has stopped working.

Did I say the GPU is the same? It's not, the 760 was originally in there, but it's now the 780. Problems existed with both.
At one point or another, Windows has been on each of the three drives. WD Green w. no other drive in there and the original PSU (CXM 600), had a tonne of reliability issues. Moved to WD Black when I got it (so two drives in the system), still a lot of reliability problems. Think at that point my GPU and PSU changed (Antec TP750W). Got the SSD, still had reliability issues, then suddenly they all disappeared, but I had to reinstall because I entered my name wrong at account setup -_-

Then, come 2015, it decided, I'm going to work properly now (therefore I posted fewer threads on here), and now, suddenly it's decided 'nah, I don't want to'.

Also, it's not an overheat. Internal case temps were about 40, CPU would have been 53 or so and I never monitor the GPU. It literally messed up the second it needed to go back into the game

EDIT:
This guy (DG NiKsoN) describes pretty much what just happened
http://steamcommunity.com/app/203160/discussions/0/810919691022414001/

Before the machine would record an event 41 at the second of shutdown or when it was already off, not in mid-operation

 

[terry4536]

Another idea (I am guessing that this is Windows 7) is doing a system repair using the Windows installation disc. If nothing else it will fix some of the small errors.

Also, Windows 10 free update is available next month.

 

[terry4536]

terry4536 said:
Did you create a boot disc? If so try booting to that disc. Then run the Windows trouble shooter.

If you have to do a clean install, definitely create a "Windows Repair Disc" and a system image so that it is easier to recover your system.

I've not seen a problem like this that wasn't hardware related.

I have previously done this for a different problem

Did the repair disc recover your system?

 

[unplanned bacon]

Another idea (I am guessing that this is Windows 7) is doing a system repair using the Windows installation disc. If nothing else it will fix some of the small errors.

Also, Windows 10 free update is available next month.

I was hoping Windows 10 would fix it. But looking at the dump files, either everything is broken or one thing is breaking everything else. There's a total of 6 recorded this year; Bad Pool Header, Memory Management Error, Driver Power State x 2 and unknown x 2 (one of these unknowns is today's)

The more I look at this, the less it makes sense. It says something about hal.dll and stop code 0x00000133. How is anyone supposed to know what that means especially since 0x00000133 can stand for hundreds of things

 

[unplanned bacon]

terry4536 said:
Did you create a boot disc? If so try booting to that disc. Then run the Windows trouble shooter.

If you have to do a clean install, definitely create a "Windows Repair Disc" and a system image so that it is easier to recover your system.

I've not seen a problem like this that wasn't hardware related.

I have previously done this for a different problem

Did the repair disc recover your system?

I remember it saying it couldn't do it, and wouldn't repair it. It was when I was talking to MS for an entirely different issue. They remote accessed and booted into safe mode, where it gave up and wouldn't start, so I force killed it thinking it had crashed on black screen. Computer wouldn't start (the BIOS would and it would POST, but Windows wouldn't start). It did start Windows eventually, can't remember why. Any issue Windows can have, it's had it, but every test the hardware has undergone (and there's been lots of tests) it's passed which is why nothing has been sent back or replaced, because so far nothing has stood out as being the cause (error codes are all over the place)

 

[terry4536]

You are probably getting tired of my ideas. But corrupted device drivers could account for some of this. I would start with the motherboard and download all of the motherboard drivers (and re-flash the BIOS). Then reinstall the drivers for every other device that has drivers in the PC.

Here are a couple of webpages on fixing .dll errors.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929833

http://www.dllsuite.net/QA/how-to-fix-dll-for-windows-pcs/

 

[unplanned bacon]

Re-flashing a BIOS is risky (I recently updated it to MSI's new BIOS. It was the one Liveupdate found for this board). I may consider installing my drivers again for the motherboard. I have one missing according to Windows. No idea what it does (Intel chipset driver). Maybe MSI needed me to put the disc in again to install that one. Wouldn't explain why old Gigabyte board did the same thing. I was reading just now about the power adaptor and it got me thinking, this computer has always, in always in every configuration, been plugged into the same 8-way with 4 other devices. I can't remember whether this is surge protected, but could it be possible cause?

Could explain why some Event 41 timestamps relate to times when the computer isn't even on

 

[terry4536]

If the BIOS update was recent it may very well be the latest BIOS version. And therefore it isn't probably necessary to update it. But I had a problem last fall with installing the drivers for a new GTX 970. I tried everything. The BIOS was my last resort since it was the latest version. I updated the BIOS, and suddenly the graphics driver installed perfectly.

A voltage regulator can improve system stability. But a simple surge protector offers only a limited protection against power surges. So I doubt that is the problem.

 

[unplanned bacon]

I give up. Got a bigger problem. Windows won't start. Just stuck on splash screen. How, when the hardware is fine, the system POSTs every time can Windows still be broken? I should have used Windows 7, 8 has been, and continues to be a nightmare

Had to force shut down to start it

EDIT: Stopped trying to fix issues a long time ago. Windows kept throwing up new ones, never understood why, because all the hardware tests indicated the hardware was fine and the system successfully POSTed with multiple boards and multiple PSUs. There was one time where it failed to start after an update (much like just now). Spent half of last year just fixing Windows 8 problems. I'd go away for 4 weeks, come back and find it's developed a problem (when no one was using it the entire time. Fix that issue, and there'd be a new problem the next day. Fix that, something is corrupt the following week. Multiple clean installs and hardware tests later, I just said, enough of this, picked up a MacBook to replace my dying OEM laptop (which also had problems from day 1). Not 100% problem free there either, but other than 2 issues (one of which I have probable cause for) I've been able to track down the cause pretty much immediately (or with a bit of help from Apple). Spent a good while looking at iMacs yesterday. Jury's out on whether my next desktop will even run Windows.

Guess what I'm saying is computers hate me and I hate them too now

 

[terry4536]

I would still vote for a system repair using the installation disc or a clean install of windows.