Win 7/ Thinkpad X1 Unexpected Shutdown

December 24, 2012 1:56 PM

Win7/ Thinkpad X1 problem driving me crazy - at some random time in sleep mode, my Thinkpad will reboot and give a "Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown" message when it's back up. The Reliability Monitor returns that this has happened 7 times so far this month. I'd be grateful for any assistance in troubleshooting - a few additional details inside.

I've done some rooting around online and a few other users are reporting this problem - anti-virus software was found to be one cause (I'm using MSE), another user was able to read their MEMORY.DMP file and determine that it was an issue with Firefox.
Unfortunately I'm unable to read my MEMORY.DMP file - I have installed WinDbg, but when I try to open the MEMORY.DMP file it says I don't have admin access, even though this is my personal laptop so I don't believe I have restricted perms (note: I'm starting to get a little out of depth here).
Oh, and when this issue occurs and I get the "unexpected shutdown" pop-up, there's a "Check for solution" button - nothing happens if I press this.
I can provide any other relevant information if it'll help.

posted by forallmankind to computers & internet (11 answers total)

Some computer have a mode where the ethernet port can wake the computer. This is intended for work environments so that backups can happen even if the computer is turned off.

That function is enabled, and can be disabled, from the BIOS. I'd bet a nickle that your computer has such a function, and it's turned on.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:14 PM on December 24, 2012

I only use my laptop on wireless - would this function being enabled still cause an issue?
posted by forallmankind at 2:18 PM on December 24, 2012

Are you running WinDbg as administrator? Right click on it and run it as admin. Try copying the memory dump file to your desktop and see if you can access it from there.

"Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown" means that the laptop bluescreened after being woken up. If you can't get the memory dump working, try disabling automatic restart on system failure to get a look at the bluescreen. You're looking for a STOP error code, and maybe a driver file that failed.
posted by dobi at 2:26 PM on December 24, 2012

Very good - got WinDbg to work, but on opening the memory dump file I just get notes on issues with symbols eg:

Symbol search path is: *** Invalid ***
Symbols can not be loaded because symbol path is not initialized.
ERROR: Symbol file could not be found

Have no idea what this means.
posted by forallmankind at 2:42 PM on December 24, 2012

From here:

Before you start to use WinDbg you also need to configure the symbol path – just go to file->symbol file path and the path you need to enter for the Microsoft public symbol server is:

http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

Here's a quick little walkthrough for when you get the symbols set up.
posted by dobi at 3:10 PM on December 24, 2012

I started getting this with a new HP Win7 laptop. A system restore to a Dec. 6th restore point cleared it up for me. I never determined what was actually causing it.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 3:20 PM on December 24, 2012

OK - thanks dobi. BugCheck says, "Probably caused by : usbhub.sys."
posted by forallmankind at 3:25 PM on December 24, 2012

So: I have 10 USB controllers listed in Device Manager -

4 use the usbhub.sys driver (2x Generic USB Hub, 2x USB Hub)
2 use the usbhub.sys driver (Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 1C26 & 1C2D) as well as 2 other drivers (usbehci.sys & usbport.sys)

Where do I go from here?
posted by forallmankind at 3:40 PM on December 24, 2012

That's unfortunate... all that "usbhub.sys" really points to is a driver issue, not any one thing specifically. Any number of third party drivers could be causing this.

You said while the laptop was asleep, it will automatically wake up and reboot with the error? Or are you manually taking the computer out of sleep and noticing it already rebooted with the error? Does it happen in both cases?

If it's automatically waking up from sleep without your intervention, try disabling wake-on-lan functionality for your network adapter. Type "View network connections" in the start menu, and right-click "properties" on your wireless adapter. Click the "Configure" button. Under the "Advanced" tab, find a property called "wake-on-lan" or "magic packets" and disable it. Do this same process for your Ethernet adapter from the first step.

I'd also give updating your BIOS a shot... it's always a good idea if you're running into problems. You should be able to find the download here. Looks like it's packaged as a bootable CD that you'll have to burn.

From that page, you can also download driver updates for each of your devices. I'd go through the list and update everything you can. If you're not sure you have it, download it anyway and give the update a shot. It will tell you if you don't need it or not.

WAIT! There's a USB 3.0 driver update on that page! Install that one!
posted by dobi at 3:43 PM on December 24, 2012

OK - I've installed the USB 3.0 driver. If the issue persists, I'll update the BIOS.

For clarity, I close the lid to put it to sleep and then at some point it re-boots itself. I honestly don't know if it actually goes to sleep (my previous Thinkpad made a loud "beep" and you'd hear the HDD & fan shut off, but this thing's got an SSD & is super quiet, and the beep's not loud) - it may be trying to go to sleep and can't. The below analysis in WinDbg says 10 minutes, so maybe that's what's going on. I'll have to keep a closer eye on it, but in the meantime, thank you so much for walking me through this.


DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (9f)
A driver has failed to complete a power IRP within a specific time (usually 10 minutes).
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000004, The power transition timed out waiting to synchronize with the Pnp
subsystem.
Arg2: 0000000000000258, Timeout in seconds.
Arg3: fffffa8003693b50, The thread currently holding on to the Pnp lock.
Arg4: fffff80000b9c3d0, nt!TRIAGE_9F_PNP on Win7
posted by forallmankind at 4:06 PM on December 24, 2012

Follow up: was not able to resolve this issue by using any of the above methods.
I re-installed Win7 using the Lenovo backup discs a few weeks ago, and have not experienced the problem since doing so. Bit of a sledge-hammer solution, but a successful one nonetheless.
posted by forallmankind at 11:56 AM on January 26