Computer won't turn off

I can't turn off my computer unless I switch it off manually. This, of course, means a slow startup. I use dialup, BTW.

I've done the Hijackthis thing after cleaning up everything possible. System Restore doesn't help. I haven't added any new software since long before the trouble started , which is a couple of months now; Service Pack 2 never seemed to cause me any trouble. I had this problem a year or so ago, but it went away of its own accord - who knows why.

I'm afraid this may be a hardware, not a software problem. I hope not, so I'd welcome any help anyone here can give me.

Thanks.

 

There's a lot of good information about XP shut down/reboot problems on Aumha's "Windows XP Shutdown & Restart Troubleshooting. "

 

Computer won't shut down

I apologize if this appears as a duplicate post; I posted it yesterday but can't find it today, so I'm starting over.

My computer (HP Pavilion 9800, WIN XP Home, dialup) won't shut down. I have to do it manually by switching it off at the outlet, and of course this makes starting up again slow. This difficulty began a couple of months ago.

I have cleaned everything I could, run various programs such as AdAware, SpyBot, EZ Antivirus, CW Shredder, and, finally, Hijackthis. I have done a selective clean boot. Nada.

System Restore has been no help.

This problem also occurred a year or two ago, but it suddenly corrected itself, who knows why.

I have SP2, but that was installed smoothly, and has been running for months without any problems. I haven't installed or downloaded any software recently, except in the course of cleaning in hopes of solving the problem, nor have I made any other changes.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

did you try to fix the errors on your hard drive ?? if not to do so you click on start then my computer then C drive right click on it and go to propertys then you will see disk clean up give that a shot

 

Computer won't shut down

Thanks, Miz, but I tried that site. It deals mostly with partial shutdown and/or reboot problems and the problems are mainly due to stuff I don't have. I couldn't find anything to cover the total lack of response to the Shutdown command.

 

This is a quote from you in the other thread.

By this do you mean nothing happens when you click start>shutdown?

Also, if you have trouble finding a post of yours click on the UserCP button on the upper left corner of this page. Then, on the left side where it says subscriptions, click on the link that says "List Subscriptions ". That should get you there.

 

computer won't shut down

Thanks, Pete - I couldn't figure out how to do that myself.

Zander - yes that's almost what I mean. All that happens is the little hourglass appears, I click on the red shutdown button and the hourglass flickers and goes away, and that's it.

 

computer won't shut down

eyedea - no luck with disk clean, but thanks.

 

A couple of things to try and post back with your results. Do both from a CMD prompt (so click on start, on run, key in cmd and OK)

Code:

shutdown -s -t 01

which should give you a one second delay and then shut the PC down.

If that one does not work then also from the cmd prompt

Code:

TSSHUTDN.EXE 0 /DELAY:0 /POWERDOWN

 

SERVICE PACK-2 is the culprit in shutdown issues

It's a "driver problem" people. I've had the same problem and this is how I fixed it. The fix involves repairing your current installation of XP first, it will return many settings to their default status (so what), and you might have to re-install some hardware drivers (so what) but will not destroy any saved files. **PLEASE NOTE: It really helps to have Service Pack 2 on a disc and must have your copy of Windows XP because again, it also involves repairing your current installation of Windows XP (trust me)**
FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS:
1.) Uninstall Service Pack 2 from add-remove programs in Control Panel.
2.) Restart your computer with your Windows XP disc in the CD tray
3.) At some point you will receive the following message on the "Welcome to Setup ":
"This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft Windows XP to run on your computer:
To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER...(along with a couple of other choices).
4.) Press "ENTER ".
5.) On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.
6.) Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press R to repair Windows XP.
7.) When that is all finished, reboot the computer in "Safe Mode" and re-install Service Pack 2 from your SP-2 disc or you could try "Safe Mode" with networking and reinstall SP-2 from Windows Update that is the key to fixing the problem.
I guarantee that will work!!

 

Mr. Fix It - welcome to the forum.

Good set of step-by-step instuctions for removing SP2, cleaning things up, and reloading SP2.

If the original poster is still with us, I'll be interested in his results on the two run line 'shutdown' commands. He may well have driver issues but I'm not quite ready to be positive about that.

 

It's a "driver problem "

Mr. Fix It said, "The fix involves repairing your current installation of XP first, it will return many settings to their default status (so what), and you might have to re-install some hardware drivers (so what) but will not destroy any saved files. **PLEASE NOTE: It really helps to have Service Pack 2 on a disc..."

Can one copy SP2 to an installed CD R/W? If so, what files should be copied?

 

Sure you can if you originally downloaded the entire service pack rather than just using windows update to download it. If you download it this way it's just a single file (burn that file to a cd), double click on it to install it. The catch in doing it this way is that it's 266 MBs in size. Obviously, if you're on dialup it's a bit large. It's a lot smaller download when you use windows update to download it. Those with slower connections can order it on a cd on the same web page that you can download it from. I think it's free but I'm not sure if there's shipping charges or not.

One advantage of downloading the entire service pack is that you can make a slipstreamed XP cd with it. The article will explain what slipstreaming is and how to do it. In my opinion, if you have a regular windows disk and the entire service pack it's worth taking the time to do it.