For some reason, Server 2008 R2 (SP1) will not soft restart, whether it be by user action or automatic OS action. Ever time I try to soft restart, it will go through the shut down process, but will never come up with my BIOS information. This started to happen after I applied the all-in-one workstation conversion on this site.

I have the following hardware:
Intel Q6600 @ 2.4GHz | Abit IP35 PRO-XE | CORSAIR XMS2 8GB DDR2 | Antec 300 Case | OEM Cooling | OCZ StealthXStream 700w PSU | Dell Perc 5i | Western Digital RE3 5x1TB RAID-5 | WD Caviar Black 1.0TB | eVGA 6600GT

What do you guys think it may be? Thanks in advance for your replies.

A few things might be causing this anomaly. The MBR could be corrupted, you might have an unstable overclock, ACPI setting mis-configuration, conflicting hardware, etc.

Solution attempt #1:

Insert your Server 2008 R2 installation DVD and boot from it. In the repair options, choose command prompt.

Type in the following commands:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot

Restart to see if issue is resolved.

Solution attempt #2:

Check your BIOS for any "ACPI" settings. You may or may not be able to change this setting depending on manufacutre. If you don't any "ACPI" related settings skip this and try solution #3.


Solution attempt #3:

****IF YOU DONT OVERCLOCK, SKIP THIS STEP***

If you have overclocked your ram timings, bCLK, increased multiplier, etc (whatever OC technique) try setting everything back to its default values just for the purpose of seeing if you can restart the computer normally again. If this was the problem you can slowly begin to increase the OC ratings again in small increments... 5mhz or so then stress it to the point where your system is unstable again.

Solution attempt #4:

Try unplugging any and all peripheral devices from your machine i.e USB printer cables, external hard drives, flash drives, scanners, etc. Basically anything "USB". On my aunt's HP pavilion her printer driver was conflicting with 7 and her computer would just hang at the boot screen for about 7 minutes. If this solution resolves your issue, replug back in each peripheral/external device one at a time until you find the culprit.

Solution attempt #5:

If you have two similar hardware devices in use at the same time, for example a PCI sound card and an integrated sound card, try disabling the device that you do not use in device manager and rebooting the machine to see if that resolves your problem.

Thanks for the tips thus far, but unfortunately, neither of those did the trick, as a soft reboot still results in Windows powering down, then the monitor showing a "no signal" screen. (same as before)

When I use a reboot process from another OS, say an Ubuntu live CD or the restore process of the Windows OS DVD, it reboots fine.

Your best bet may be to simply save all your important information you created on your machine and simply reformat the drive and re-install Windows again. If I was in your situation and there was nothing of importance on the drive I would just simply reformat and reinstall to avoid the headache of trying to figure out whats wrong. If you do decide to do that, try applying all the tweaks manually from the win2008r2workstation manual or you might want to try Server 2008, its my preferred OS. I like it over Windows 7/R2.