Windows 2000 shutdown/restart problem

Hi All,

Help, please. I'm a competent computer user but by no means an expert.

I have a Dell Latitude C800 with W2K. When I try to shut it down it always restarts. To get it to close down I have to hold down the power button after Windows has closed and before it restarts.

I notice that Event Viewer reports an error every time the machine starts: "Configuring the Page file for crash dump failed. Make sure there is a page file on the boot partition and that is large enough to contain all physical memory." Could this have anything to do with it? There is a pagefile.sys on C:\, sized at 2000 - 4095 MB. The machine has 500 MB of RAM.

I also have a problem with the floppy, which says "A:\ is not accessible. Incorrect function" whenever I try to use it. In Device Manager, the device is marked with an exclamation mark in a yellow circle, and the message "This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12) "

I feel that these problems are somehow linked.

I've tried a number of things suggested on the many web pages I've consulted, including uninstalling my CD writer software, uninstalling Windows Media Player, checking the power management settings in the BIOS, and so on, all to no avail. Can anyone suggest a solution?

Thanks in advance.

ScandalXK

 

"Configuring the Page file for crash dump failed shouldn't be a problem since the crash dump file will probably never be needed and you can worry about activating it if needed. For now I'd disable the thing - and while you are in that section also disable the automatic reboot in the event of a crash. The blue screen of death you would see then does contain useful information.

The link TonyT gave should let you figure out specifically what is going on with your floppy drive.

 

Hi All,

Thanks to Newt and TonyT for their advice. TonyT's links suggested that the problem would be solved by installing SP4, which I have now done. Newt suggested that I should disable configuring the page file for crash dump, and also disable automatic reboot in the event of a crash. I think this means going to My computer - Properties - Advanced - Startup and Recovery, and selecting "(none)" under "Write Debugging Information ", and unchecking "Automatically reboot ". I've done both those things.

My computer still restarts itself and my floppy still doesn't work.

Further information: I can get my floppy to work by uninstalling the floppy disk drive under Device Manager and restarting my machine. However, it stops working again if I switch off the machine and it restarts itself, and will not work again until I have repeated the uninstall process. This is what makes me think that the floppy problem is caused by, or at least linked with, the shutdown/restart problem.

Any further advice, anyone?

Thanks.

ScandalXK

 

Thanks again to TonyT. His link (to Black Viper) turned up a very informative site. I went through all my services to make sure that they are as listed in the "default" " column on BV's table. The only exception is Net Logon, which needs to be "automatic" since I am working on a network.

My computer still restarts itself; I still can't use the floppy.

I have also tried setting the only "disabled" service (Routing and Remote Access) to manual; no difference.

I don't know enough about Services to be able to tell if any of them are misconfigured in any way, other than the settings described above.

Any further advice, anyone? Get a new computer, for example?

Thanks.

ScandalXK