shutdown time for XP

[Guest]

I have compared start up and shut down times of two
computers in my office:
1. A Compaq Presario Desktop (80 GB HD, 512 MB RAM and a
2.0 GHz processor)
2. A HP Pavilion Notebook (40 GB HD, 512 MB RAM, and a
2.4 GHz processor)

Both computers have essentially the same software
installed and running. (Windows XP Home Edition, McAfee
Virus and Firewall, MS Office, GoBack, etc. Both have
been defragmented. Both have the Windows System Restore
feature disabled and Hibernation activated. Both are
running on AC power and the Power option setting is set
to Home Office Desk.

The Compaq Desktop starts up in 30 seconds and shuts down
in 35 seconds.
The HP Notebook starts up 55 seconds and shuts down in 2
minutes and 15 seconds.

Note: The start up and shut down times of both computers
in Hibernation Mode is approximately the same.

I would think that both computers would start up and shut
down in approximately the same amount of time. Any ideas
as to why the big difference, especially in the shut down
time of the Notebook? (Approx. 4 X that of the Desktop)

In response to the above, HP Tech Support suggested that
I reset BIOS to Default, Enter two new entries into
registry (HungAppTimeout =1000 and WaitToKillAppTimeout =
2000). This seemed to reduce shutdown time on the
notebook to 1 minute 25 Seconds. An improvement. However;
for some reason, this reduction in time lasted for two
shutdowns. After that shutdown time returned to 2minutes
and 15 seconds. The register settings added as per above
are still in the registry and have not changed.

Any suggestions??? Thanks.

 

[Geoffrey Schaller]

I am running into a similar problem here (which is why I
am hitting these groups, actually...). I've narrowed it
down to the Page File on the Laptop in my case. To see if
this is what is causing the problem on your HP, try going
to My Computer => Properties => Advanced => Performance =>
Advanced => Virtual Memory, and try turning off the Page
File entirely, then reboot a few times.

Note that I do NOT suggest leaving it in this state, as
your performance will stink w/o any virtual memory.
Just try this as a test to see if that will change the
shutdown time.

In my case, the Compaq Laptop has 1GB of memory, and a 1.5
GB Swap File. If I eliminate the swap file, it takes no
time to shut down, but if it is enabled at full size, it
takes well over 2 minutes to shut down. I can eliminate
the file, but then Windows gets cranky and advises setting
the swap file back up, and we're back at the same
problem. Even if I manually set it at a lower size (512
MB or so), it wants to change it back to the system
managed size (1.5 GB). Also, because this user is a Power
User and the company owner, I can't tell him not to push
the capabilities of his laptop.

This delay shutting down was not always the case - it
started at an unknown point and was brought to our
attention while the user was on a business trip. Has
anyone seen behavior like this linked to a Service Pack,
HotFix, or Patch of any sort?

 

[Guest]

As a follow-up to this, I was able to solve my problem...
check this for several solutions:

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm

-Geoffrey