Where do I look to see why Windows 10 shutdown randomly?

[soopytwist]

I disconnected my WiFi from the taskbar (I do this sometimes when I’m AFK for a bit… call me paranoid) and turned off my monitor but I left the PC on the desktop not doing anything (although that’s subjective, it’s doing plenty in the background). Half an hour later I return to my PC and it’s off.

In Event Viewer at 19:23 it logs there was unexpected shutdown at 18:40 (while I was away). At 18:27 there was a DistributedCOM event, a yellow warning triangle. Specific text reads: The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID.
I’m not entirely sure what that is without Googling it, which I haven’t done yet (and probably won’t). At 18:38 it records a Kernel-General event, nothing untoward here. The next event is at 19:22 another Kernel-General, this is after the logged shutdown.

Is there somewhere else I can look to work out what caused the shutdown? You’d think just powerless but I can see no obvious reason for this, there was no general power outage to the room or the house as a whole. Dodgy PSU perhaps? Maybe, but it hasn’t giving any clues that it’s faulty so far. Well, at least until today.

As for connected USB devices and other I/O there’s a Rift CV1 and Valve Index but they’re both disconnected from the leads. Though Rift sensors are plugged in. A Wooting Two keyboard and a Logitech mouse, speakers (off) and an external SSD docking station (also off).

I can’t say I’ve ever had the PC randomly shutdown before (in it’s current hardware configuration at least) while actually using it. So the fact that it did this while I was away from it is troubling.

Oh and no one else in the house and cat not around (or even capable of shutting down a PC).

Or a ghost turned it off.

[alms]

You should be checking your Power Configuration first. Perhaps the computer is set to shutdown automatically after a certain time has elapsed.

[soopytwist]

Sorry to drag this one out of the bin but it has been a while since this last occurred. So within barely five minutes of turning on and opening up my browser just now Windows goes into shutdown. This is the first time I’ve seen it go off while sat here. So I’m not losing power suddenly as feared instead it is actually going into shutdown state as if I had pressed the power button.

[alms]

• Win+X
• Event Viewer
• > Windows Logs
• >> System
• Filter
  • Kernel-Power
  • Kernel-Power-Trigger
  • Power-Troubleshooter

[alms]

Also:

c:\> PowerCfg /sleepstudy
c:\> PowerCfg /SystemSleepDiagnostics
c:\> PowerCfg /SystemPowerReport

From an elevated command prompt might provide further insight.

[soopytwist]

Thanks alms.
Here’s Event Viewer:

The SystemPowerReport creates the same file as sleepstudy:

sleepstudy-report.html

system-sleep-diagnostics.html

Last night I unticked Turn on fast start-up and set Do Nothing for when I press the power button. Since this occurrence is random and happens very rarely all I can do now is wait for it to happen again, or not happen again. Unless of course there’s something in those files that means something more, alms?

I should add I intend to remove my ancient X-Fi sound card and use on-board audio. Though I’m using Daniel K’s Win 10 drivers I get weird stuff happen sometimes, very, very, rarely a BSOD on startup and always the same Creative driver file at fault but is probably when Win 10 tries to do something with the sound drivers and fucks it up. It happens extremely rarely though - like once a year or something. And also the Dolby Digital Live encoder fails and I have to disable it and re-enable it otherwise I have broken audio. This happens approx twice a week.

[alms]

Like I’ve said previously, losing the X-Fi would be a good idea.

The reports show an abnormal power loss event yesterday and three ordinary shutdowns, but only you can tell which ones were user-initiated.

I’m not seeing anything else that can be useful at the moment.

There’s a squillion reasons why the PC might be losing power. I have seen issues caused by power cables, extensions and power strips.

Reseating cables and testing with another PSU (if you have one) cannot hurt either, as disconnecting temporarily non-essential devices.

The apparently random, occasional nature of the problem might make this frustrating to deal with.

As for the system shutting down on its own in front of you, might be some scheduled task and/or application.

[soopytwist]

Hi alms. So it happened again while I was on the Steam store. No shutdown sequence this time I just lost power. Today I’ve taken the X-Fi out and installed Realtek latest drivers for my motherboard. Unfortunately I’ve just learnt Windows 10 doesn’t support Dolby Digital 5.1 - or something like this. I have an Earforce DSS 5.1 Dolby Digital receiver which I plug headphones into. I can only switch from Dolby Bypass and Prologic IIx on the DSS and in sound properties there is only DTS.

Whether or not the X-Fi was causing the power outages/random shutdowns or not remains to be seen but now I can’t drive 5.1 audio like I could with the Creative X-Fi and Daniel K’s drivers.

[alms]

I cannot say conclusively at this stage if the X-Fi is responsible for the problem, ofc.

I can only tell you that I have one, too, and I had to remove it because it was giving me problems. However, there are many variables so it’s possible that my issues were unrelated to yours.

My previous suggestion boils down to proceeding by exclusion; if you remove all unessential hardware and the problem goes away, then you will have a better idea of where you should be looking. You reconnect all the pieces one-by-one until you find what makes things go awry.

If that alone is not sufficient to provide at least a temporary reprieve, you will have to look elsewhere, like I said previously, the reasons might be elusive, so reseating parts, switching PSUs, cables, extensions, power strips and so on, all are good bets until a light appears at the end of the tunnel.

[soopytwist]

Indeed. If it happens again I’ll get a new PSU. It’s probably time for a new one anyway!