The Windows 11 auto restart disease
May 23, 2022 10:35 PM Subscribe
Recently, I bought a new laptop with Windows 11 Pro. Everything was working well until a few days ago, when it has started rebooting itself, several times per day, for no apparent reason. This is annoying, since I need to find and open all my documents and programs again. The auto reboots also happen during the night, when the laptop is in power saving mode with the screen closed. I'm grateful for any advice on how to solve this.
It took several days for mine to mostly settle down, and then it started acting up again. I don't have a *correct* or technical answer for you; I just know mine irritated me enough about a week and a half ago that I gave up and reinstalled windows because I NEEDED IT TO WORK, and it's been behaving like a sweetheart ever since. Good thing, too, cuz I was pretty mad at it, lol.
It did take the better part of two or maybe three days for me to get all the way through the re-install, because I kept forgetting that I needed to give it permission to do the next step, so I'd go to use it, it would need a click, and there it would go (again). But it DID finally cut it out and is updated-happy.
*** Last week was really bad for the sleepiness/not feeling well I've been experiencing lately, so I didn't really even both to do my normal and figure out why it was doing whatever, I was just all FINE. WHATEVER. Reinstall and BEHAVE cuz I don't have the energy to deal with this, and to my surprise, it did. Which was nice, because my next "I'm not dealing with this baloney right now" step was to whine to my software engineer son and drop it off on his doorstep and try to deal with just my mac in the meantime.
posted by stormyteal at 1:45 AM on May 24, 2022
It did take the better part of two or maybe three days for me to get all the way through the re-install, because I kept forgetting that I needed to give it permission to do the next step, so I'd go to use it, it would need a click, and there it would go (again). But it DID finally cut it out and is updated-happy.
*** Last week was really bad for the sleepiness/not feeling well I've been experiencing lately, so I didn't really even both to do my normal and figure out why it was doing whatever, I was just all FINE. WHATEVER. Reinstall and BEHAVE cuz I don't have the energy to deal with this, and to my surprise, it did. Which was nice, because my next "I'm not dealing with this baloney right now" step was to whine to my software engineer son and drop it off on his doorstep and try to deal with just my mac in the meantime.
posted by stormyteal at 1:45 AM on May 24, 2022
Response by poster: It's taken me about two weeks to get my new computer set up more or less the way I want it (at a leisurely pace, I admit), but I guess I'm headed for a reinstall, if no one has a better suggestion. I am not aware of any waiting or failed updates trying to reinstall.
Tell me again, what is so "Pro" about Win 11 Pro?
posted by Termite at 2:49 AM on May 24, 2022
Tell me again, what is so "Pro" about Win 11 Pro?
posted by Termite at 2:49 AM on May 24, 2022
I had a problem with updates failing. I found a log file that gave the reason - the presence of a file from a long forgotten antivirus. Its been so long that I can't remember the name of the log file or where it was, but it wasn't that hard to find.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:07 AM on May 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by SemiSalt at 5:07 AM on May 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Speaking of antivirus: if the way you've set up Windows includes any always-on anti-malware suite other than the inbuilt Windows Defender that came with it, get rid of it. In 2022 that stuff always causes more problems than it ever fixes. If it goes wrong it can potentially impose arbitrary execution restrictions on any system component and screw things up in completely obscure ways that are very very difficult to diagnose just by reading event logs.
posted by flabdablet at 5:25 AM on May 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by flabdablet at 5:25 AM on May 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
what is so "Pro" about Win 11 Pro?
It has more knobs exposed for professional system administrators to twiddle, many of which can be twiddled remotely and centrally, so it's easier to sysadmin a workplace fleet of Pro installations than Home installations. Almost all of them default to the same settings as those locked in on Home flavours, so if you're not doing anything particularly intricate with networking you'd probably never notice the differences.
posted by flabdablet at 5:30 AM on May 24, 2022
It has more knobs exposed for professional system administrators to twiddle, many of which can be twiddled remotely and centrally, so it's easier to sysadmin a workplace fleet of Pro installations than Home installations. Almost all of them default to the same settings as those locked in on Home flavours, so if you're not doing anything particularly intricate with networking you'd probably never notice the differences.
posted by flabdablet at 5:30 AM on May 24, 2022
https://www.minitool.com/backup-tips/windows-11-random-restart.html
posted by LOOKING at 5:58 AM on May 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by LOOKING at 5:58 AM on May 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
The log files on my computer are here: file:///C:/Windows/Logs/WindowsUpdate/ They have a .etl extension, and I'm not sure what app you are supposed to use for opening them. I did open one in an ordinary text editor, and while the formatting may not be there, you should be able to find and interpret an error message.
I found the logs again with a search for "windows update log".
posted by SemiSalt at 6:56 AM on May 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
I found the logs again with a search for "windows update log".
posted by SemiSalt at 6:56 AM on May 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Of all the tips in that minitool.com article, the one I'd try is disabling automatic restart on system failure. If that works, then the next time your box would have restarted it will instead stop and display a Blue Screen Of Death. Those include a stop code that might help track down what the actual cause is.
posted by flabdablet at 11:15 AM on May 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by flabdablet at 11:15 AM on May 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
You know, it could be an electrical malfunction.
posted by Chitownfats at 6:35 PM on May 24, 2022
posted by Chitownfats at 6:35 PM on May 24, 2022
Response by poster: Thanks for your comments and answers! AskMeFi is better than any technical support that I know; that's why I come here with my problems. Meanwhile, the manufacturer of my laptop (HP) has released a BIOS update, which does not specifically mention the auto update problem, but after I've installed it, it seems like the problem is gone. Knock on wood.
posted by Termite at 12:24 AM on May 27, 2022
posted by Termite at 12:24 AM on May 27, 2022
Be careful with HP bios updates. I had a nice work laptop from HP but after one update the entire machine bricked because the update meddled "with how the battery worked"*, and HP said they couldn't fix it. We sent it back.
* best technical explanation
Personally, if it was a brand new laptop, I would have sent it back.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 9:44 PM on June 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
* best technical explanation
Personally, if it was a brand new laptop, I would have sent it back.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 9:44 PM on June 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
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