Windows 8.1 computer shuts down unexpectedly.

Hm, I just thought something!

My main personal development machine had the same problem some months ago. I have three monitors attached to the PC to help me with PHP development, and I had one of the monitors attached to the motherboard's internal Graphics Processor, the Intel HD Graphics 4000 which is part of the CPU.

This PC shutdown unexpectantly many times, and without giving much thought, I suspected the GPU as the culprit - and it really was. It was not the first time I had stability issues with an Intel GPU chipset! I attached the 3rd monitor to the main GPU (an AMD card) and problems disappeared since.

As I am realising now, only the GPU drivers are so connected with the OS core they can cause a sudden shutdown. So Intel drivers may are the source of the problem!

I cannot check my hypothesis until Monday, but the PC with the recent shutdown problem is also running with an onboard Intel GMA3150 chipset GPU. Maybe the GPU tries to access a RAM memory area the wrong way, so the PC shuts down.

So, I have to ask you: What kind of GPU each of you are using?

If all of you are using an Intel onboard chip, we may have found the culprit!

Hi Luxus

You have mentioned a common problem area with the latest motherboards, but I tend to add a Graphics card in the EX_PCI slot as that helps the processor run normal programs better by taking the load of it.

I tend to get a lot of comments from my Customers saying "you said this machine would be faster and it seems the same as the old one"    this is purely down to memory,  Hard drive and Graphics processes, so I now tend to hive off what I can.

But I can agree the Intel chipset can cause a lot of problems, and some of microsofts Virus deterents are to stop certain writes to certain memory locations, thus making this even worse.

In my case the shutdowns were definitely fixed by replacing the Hard drive, but in others this could be the problem.

To answer your question, I have not added an extra graphics card in this machine, and it is using the on board GPU, but replacing the drive worked, so it was not the onBoard GPU that was causing my problem.

It certainly was not the OS either, as others have suggested.

In reply to Luxus.

Hi Luxus, if you have gone the same upgrade path that Art has done above and you are certain that your hardware is working as it should, then I can only suggest that your problem is a driver that is not compatible with Windows 8.1.

You will need to check your dump file or log file to see what error message was given when it shutdown, to try and locate the piece of hardware, or run one of these Driver update programs and check that all the drivers listed are windows 8.1 compatible.

I still stand by Microsoft that windows8.1 works satisfactorily, after all it is only a few machines which are causing a problem, if you purchase a new one from  eg PCworld or wherever it all works fine, so it cannot be the OS.       Also make sure your motherboard is capable of running 64bit system if you upgraded to the 64bit Windows 8.1, as many XP machines and the first issues of Windows 8 were 32bit systems.

Please also read the first paragraph of the link given in my last message on 18th August, you cannot upgrade, you must do a clean install, and have the correct drivers for your motherboard, etc.

Dear Peyia,

I have 4 machines with windows 8.1 and the problem appears in only one of them.

The problem is the shutdown occurs the same time everyday (at midday, at around 2pm) suddenly, without leaving dumps or log entries. The log entries are just mentioning an abnormal shutdown and reboot and nothing else. That's why I believe it's caused by something close to the system's core (kernel).

I am not a windows 8.1 hater, I believe this version is the best windows of all and I am a very sutisfied windows developer. But the problem is buffling.

I want to believe the shutdown is caused by some hardware problem, but I cannot explain why it is happening at the same time each day...

I have to say also that I installed a nvidia GPU card and the problem still appeared at about 2 o'clock. So, my hypothesis of faulty Intel onboard GPU drivers is disproved.