Computer keeps locking automatically

Anonymous
2019-11-17T16:41:28+00:00

My computer keeps locking up. Ill try to run something and a blue screen will pop saying "locking..." And it will completely shut down. How do i fix this?

***Modified title from: my computer (dell, windows 10) keeps locking up, how do I fix it?***

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2019-12-05T19:26:00+00:00

Solved!!!!!

I have confirmed my critical battery level action suspicion I described before.  To test it I set my critical battery level higher and unplugged my PC to run it down to that level.  As soon as it reached that point, the blue "Locking" screen popped up and it went into hibernation just like it's set to do.  There was also another very quick notification screen/message but I'm not certain what it said.  I think it might have said something about critical battery level but, again, I'm not certain.  I am 100% certain that I saw the mysterious "Locking" message on a blue screen exactly as I'd been seeing it before all those times. 

So anyone else who is having this same problem, you most likely have a really old battery that drains super fast when you're working your PC hard and using a lot of energy.  Or your battery may be malfunctioning but leading to the same issue.  It's draining so quickly there's no time for the other power level notifications and it's going straight to the critical battery level action. 

There is another thread somewhere else where the Windows "expert" states that he is not aware of any screen or message that says "Locking" in Windows 10, which we now know is incorrect, and that is probably causing a lot of confusion for those of us that are experiencing this rare issue.  I even noticed that the font for this "Locking" message was the same Windows font we're so familiar with.  And since I read somewhere else someone was having this same issue on a Dell laptop, we can be certain that it is indeed a function of Windows 10. 

Now that I've confirmed it myself, I can stop worrying about malware or a virus causing it.  That would be a very weird thing to be causing anyway since there's no other issues related and I can always restart, or bring out of hibernation, my laptop no problem.

Well, I hope anyone else that's having this same, strange issue reads this and finally finds some clarity.  If you do happen to read this all and changing the battery does solve the problem, please post a response here if you don't mind.  Even though I'm 100% now that I've found the answer, I'd still like to get outside confirmation and also know if my efforts have helped anyone else.  This is such a rare, weird issue that even the Windows experts have been stumped.  It would be great for my ego to know I did, indeed, solve this mystery.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-06-02T10:11:31+00:00

    My labtop lenovo y520 keeps restart by blue scree which stop code is driver power state failure 

    installed new windows10 on Hard disk 1T and it works well labtop didn’t restart by it self 

    installed new windows on SSD samsung (M.2) and un locatted the HD and it works well either 

    when i locatted the HD volume by Disk management blue screen returns to appear.

    now i don’t know where the problem is and i can’t use my labtop efficiently

    i wish any expert of this problem drive me the best solution and point the problem to me ...

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-06-02T02:07:23+00:00

    Did anyone ever figure this out? My computer has started doing this recently.

    I also  noticed someone that has a tower not a laptop is having the same issue, so that would mean the battery is not the issue. I wonder if it is something with Windows 10. Maybe an update screwed it up. I hope someone can help.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-05-12T02:37:31+00:00

    I made a Microsoft account literally JUST to respond to this comment, haha. that was not a fun process they made that so stressful... anyway! Thank you for y'alls comments on here they were very helpful and honestly i think sometimes you just have to type in the right keywords to get to the correct thread that will help you, like this one for me. I have a Toshiba laptop with Windows 10 and my laptop is doing the same thing (showing the ubiquitous "Locking..." immediately followed by hibernation).

    It's absolutely a battery issue i think as you pointed out, and for SOME REASON my laptop does better in one position??? Like, if i hold it on my lap and try to watch a YouTube video, it will lock within maybe 3 minutes. But, if i keep it to the left of me and don't TOUCH it haha it's fine for a good while... my battery hasn't been the best for a while now but it just recently has started doing this lock thing. It's pretty frustrating but this thread has helped. thank you.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-05-03T19:12:36+00:00

    I can only speculate that there's some sort of power issue somewhere because that's what mine was.  It has shut down due to overheating of the processor but it clearly told me that those were thermal shut downs.  98% of the time I did not get that notice.

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