Maximus Ranger VII + Windows 10 shutdown problem...again

[d4nYz3r0]

Hey guys,

you're kind of my last hope to get this damn problem fixed 😞

Like many others I have the problem that my PC won't properly turn off, LEDs keep lighting and fans keep spinning, so I have to hold down the power button until everything goes off.

I already googled the problem and tried various things. What I tried was:
- Disabling IMEI
- Reinstalling IMEI
- Updating IMEI
- Disabling Q-FAN / unplug every other PWM controlled fan
- Resetting BIOS to default
- Reinstalling Windows 10
- Playing around with the energy settings
- Checking the eventlog (there were 3 warnings, one indicating problem with an ACPI driver, I later found out that these warnings belonged to VMware)

The problem first occured several months ago because windows automatically updated the IMEI but downgrading to the version on the ASUS Site fixed the problem for a while.
Then while playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and The Witcher 3 the issue came up again. There I thought it was because of the Xbox 360 gamepad since I played both games
with that and the shutdown problem only occured after playing these games (not always but relatively often)
But then again, after a while it also happend just by playing (this time it was Deux Ex: Human Revolution, which was kind of my testing game because after playing that, the shutdown problem came up to 100%)

So I reinstalled Windows 10 completely fresh and for two days everything was fine (even with Deus Ex) but yesterday the problem came up again :mad:

I'm really out of ideas now...

My current situation is:
Windows 10 Pro x64 (Automatic device update disabled, while reinstalling I even unplugged the LAN cord)
Most current drivers except for the IMEI where I'm using the one on the ASUS website
No AI Suite ever installed
I once ran this fan optimization thing in the BIOS (more by mistake) but this is long ago and I already tried with BIOS defaults

My Specs:
Core i5-6600K @ 4.2 GHz
Maximus Ranger VIII (Bios @ 1504)
2 x 8 GB Kingston Savage RAM (HX428C14SBK2/16) @ 2666 MHz
512 GB Samsung 950 Pro
Creative Soundblaster ZxR
MSI GTX 980
BeQuiet DarkRock Pro 3 (if it's something because of the PWM fan)
2 WD Blue Drives (1TB and 640 GB)

I already opened a case and even though the guy is pretty competent it seems he's also running out of ideas.

I hope one of you guys can help me. If you need any further information, just ask 😄

Thanks alot

Edit: Darn... Of course it's a Maximus VIII in the title...maybe some mod can edit this?^^

[Nate152]

Hello d4nYz3r0

I don't know if this will help you but gogopogo posted a solution and a lot of people say it worked for them.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-will-not-shut-down

[seph13]

As I've mentioned in other threads nothing worked for me except uninstalling AI Suite 3 and clearing cmos, eventually I was able to get consistent shut down behaviour by swithching out the cpu fan to a high end Noctua (temporarily switching to a DC case fan didn't help). Since it seems that you have already tried alot of stuff let me spell out more specifically what worked for me in case it was a combination of factors and not just the cpu fan as I assume.

First off I completely reset the BIOS with USB BIOS flashback. Let me be clear that I did not just to a regular flash as I read in a few different places that only a USB bios flashback would completely clear all previous parameters. Something about a usb flashback erasing the boards actual MEI firmware and resetting it back to default. I'm not sure if this is true or not but it's what I did. Afterwords I made sure to only install the Asus MEI and chipset drivers (all drivers) I was very careful to not install more updated drivers that don't come from Asus support page. Finally I installed Ai Suite 3 clean, and by clean I mean clean (no previous install traces), after running fan optimization I immediately disabled cpu fan extreme quiet mode and never experienced any shut down problems for a week while I waited for a new quiet fan to arrive. Once I installed my Noctua fan I immediately reran fan optimization and left it at default settings. I have not had shut down issues since and it's been a few weeks of frequent shut downs (over 200 by this point).
If I were you I would do a usb bios flashback, fit a stock cpu cooler if possible, and run a fresh install of Windows 10 (maybe on a separate drive) and install only the Asus drivers from the support site. Also just noticed that you have a sound blaster, definitely take that out as I recall an earlier thread were a bunch of people solved this problem by removing the sound card (z170 compatibility problem I think). Do not forget to use usb bios flashack once and clear cmos & pull power cable for a minute whenever you change hardware or make a major change. Do not just pull the sound card for instance and expect an immediate resolution, once the bios is bugged I get the feeling that it stays that way until you reset it somehow. Good luck, keep us posted.

[d4nYz3r0]

@Nate152:
I already tried most of the things but I will take a closer look again. Thank you

@seph13:
Thank you for your detailed explanation 🙂 For now I updated the BIOS to the most current version (1602) with CMOS-Reset and default settings.
Maybe this helped already.

Oh man...I really hope it's not related to the ZxR that would be really, really frustrating...I bought the system completely new incl. ZxR

For now my plan is the following:
1. Try current BIOS
2. Disable USB3.1
3. BIOS Flashback
4. Remove ZxR

Since I'm a bit saturated playing Deux Ex for now, it could take a while to verify if each step helped resolving the problem. But as soon as I have any news, I will post an update 😄

[d4nYz3r0]

Hey guys,

It's been a while but I got some (good) news 😉

Like I said, I tried the most recent BIOS version (1601). After flashing it, I performed kind of a hard reset (ASUS support told me to do), basically you flash the BIOS,
then pull the power cord, remove the battery and hold down the CMOS-reset button for about 10 seconds.

Then I went into the settings and loaded the optimized defaults without ANY changes.
This setting worked for me pretty good, I had no further problems (this time it was playing Watch Dogs and WoW, both several hours)

After being sure that the systems seems to work, I tried changing little things in the BIOS, beginning with ErP (so the lights would shut down)

And here comes the interesting thing:

After enabling the ErP Readiness I immediately got the shutdown problem again. So I disabled it and again I had no more problems.

I'm pretty sure this is no general help. but maybe some poor soul seeking for help can use this 😄

[blacklotus83]

d4nYz3r0 wrote:
Hey guys,

It's been a while but I got some (good) news 😉

Like I said, I tried the most recent BIOS version (1601). After flashing it, I performed kind of a hard reset (ASUS support told me to do), basically you flash the BIOS,
then pull the power cord, remove the battery and hold down the CMOS-reset button for about 10 seconds.

Then I went into the settings and loaded the optimized defaults without ANY changes.
This setting worked for me pretty good, I had no further problems (this time it was playing Watch Dogs and WoW, both several hours)

After being sure that the systems seems to work, I tried changing little things in the BIOS, beginning with ErP (so the lights would shut down)

And here comes the interesting thing:

After enabling the ErP Readiness I immediately got the shutdown problem again. So I disabled it and again I had no more problems.

I'm pretty sure this is no general help. but maybe some poor soul seeking for help can use this 😄

Hi, is it still stable with ErP off? I'm struggling with the same thing and I also tested in former BIOS versions with ErP enabled and disabled and it made no deifference. The only solution was to remove the SB Z / ZxR.

[d4nYz3r0]

Hi blacklotus83,

It's not only ErP but some other settings which cause this behaviour.
For example if I want to overclock and undervolt the PC I also get the shutdown issue. Did you try running it with complete default settings?
With default settings my PC runs perfectly fine (including ZxR) and even after 4+ hours of gaming, no shutdown issue happened.

ASUS support is also not really helpfull in this topic. They just say I should check if my CPU and RAM are compatible and if not, I should request an RMA.

Is there any way to get an RMA directly from ASUS? As a customer from Germany, ASUS says I need to contact my vendor...so this procedure will likely take 3+ weeks and I don't think it will change anything
It's really sad...i've been using ASUS MoBos for years now (no problems at all), but this time I only have troubles