Support Request: System Crashing only sometimes

Description

Hi,

We recently upgraded our SiteKiosk machines as part of our Windows 11 upgrade project. During the hardware refresh, we moved from the classic version of SiteKiosk to the online version. The new systems are HP Pro Mini 400 G9 units with ESET and Splashtop installed for remote management. Other than those tools, the machines are clean (non-domain) installations using one of the default starting screen templates, with the default daily reboot enabled.

We are experiencing an issue that affects only the machines with SiteKiosk installed. It doesn’t occur on every reboot, and we’re not sure whether the system is crashing or if SiteKiosk is triggering a restart. The Event Viewer on an affected device shows the following entry:

“The kernel power manager has initiated a shutdown transition. Action: Power Action Reboot.”

This indicates a clean reboot, but after that entry, no further logs are generated until we manually force a power cycle.

During the failed reboot, the system reaches the Windows logo screen but never displays the spinning circle that indicates Windows is loading. It stalls indefinitely at this stage, and the only way to recover is to perform a hard power cycle. Because the hang occurs so early in the boot process, no logs are captured during the failure. In one case, the machine remained stuck on this screen for two days.

These machines have only been deployed for about a month, and the issue has occurred on 4 of the 5 units (one of them twice). Identical hardware builds without SiteKiosk installed have not shown this behaviour, so SiteKiosk appears to be the only common factor.

The other night, three machines went down at different times with this issue.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer: (1)

Re: System Crashing only sometimes 11/27/2025 12:26 PM
Hello,

By default, a newly created project in SiteKiosk Online is configured to perform a client system restart at 4:00 a.m. You can also add other times or set multiple restart schedules if needed.
See Project Editor > Settings > System: https://sitekiosk.online/help/en/System.html

The restart command itself is initiated using standard WMI queries. What happens afterward is beyond SiteKiosk’s control and depends on the Windows system.

It appears that the issue may lie with the restart process within the Windows system itself. To rule this out, please first disable all power-saving options (if not already done) and also turn off Hibernate mode in Windows — for example, by running the command: powercfg /h off.
This ensures that Windows fully shuts down before restarting.

Regards,
Michael Olbrich
My Account
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