Windows Will Not Shut Down

[Ralph K. Park]

I am using windows XP Pro.
A couple of MS automatic upgrades were recently installed, but there have
been no other changes to the program I know of.
McAfee says my computer is clean.
I tried restoring to a couple of previous restore points.
No help.
I can stop my computer by turning off the power, of course, but suspect that
is a destructive practice.
I ordinarily leave the PC on 24/7, but have to shut it down to
install/remove a Kanguru drive I use to back up the "C" drive weekly.
Advice would be much appreciated.
~ Ralph

 

[jimbo571]

I am using windows XP Pro.
A couple of MS automatic upgrades were recently installed, but there have
been no other changes to the program I know of.
McAfee says my computer is clean.
I tried restoring to a couple of previous restore points.
No help.
I can stop my computer by turning off the power, of course, but suspect that
is a destructive practice.
I ordinarily leave the PC on 24/7, but have to shut it down to
install/remove a Kanguru drive I use to back up the "C" drive weekly.
Advice would be much appreciated.
~ Ralph

Event viewer ? If the drive is usb , use the *safely remove hardware*
icon.

 

[Ralph K. Park]

jimbo...
Thanx, but I don't have "event viewer" on my machine, and none of my drives
are USB.
Still unable to shut down.
~rkp~

 

[Anthony Buckland]

jimbo...
Thanx, but I don't have "event viewer" on my machine, and none of my
drives are USB.
Still unable to shut down.
~rkp~
...

The eternal consulting question, "What happens
when you try?" I assume you click Start, Turn
Off Computer, Turn Off. Do you get offered all
these buttons? Assuming the process works
in just this way up to Turn Off, what happens
next? Does the machine fail completely to
respond? Does it respond, get part way through
the process, and then hang? Do you see any
error message, or a window stating that some
program or process is being shut down? Do you
get a Blue Screen Of Death? Does the "Shutdown
tune" play? When you get to the point, whatever
it is, where shutting down goes no further, exactly
what is left on your screen?

 

[Ralph K. Park]

Ooops.
I should have included answers to those questions in my query.
I click on "START."
The normal "Turn off computer" window appears.
I click on the center ("Turn Off") icon.
The "Turn off computer" window disappears.
The desktop flickers very briefly, but remains unchanged.
Nothing else happens, no matter how long I wait.
Additional trouble-shooting info:
Weekly I copy my entire "C" drive to a Kanguru removable hard drive.
When I boot from that drive I can shut down the Windows on that drive in the
normal fashion, which I guess, indicates that the problem is somewhere on my
"C" drive.
Thanks for your interest...
~Ralph

 

[Anthony Buckland]

Ooops.
I should have included answers to those questions in my query.
I click on "START."
The normal "Turn off computer" window appears.
I click on the center ("Turn Off") icon.
The "Turn off computer" window disappears.
The desktop flickers very briefly, but remains unchanged.
Nothing else happens, no matter how long I wait.
...

Have you tried Ctrl-Alt-Del during the nothing-happening
period to see if Task Manager has anything strange
to report? It might be even better to open a Task Manager
window before you try shutting down, and look for any
changes.

If you attempt to turn off while something is still running,
say Notepad on a file with nothing much in it (wouldn't
want you to risk messing up real data), can you
resume that task, say go back to Notepad and edit
the file some more?

These might help someone with more inside knowledge
than me tell you if the stopping mechanism is broken
or if something is getting in its way.

 

[jimbo571]

Ooops.
I should have included answers to those questions in my query.
I click on "START."
The normal "Turn off computer" window appears.
I click on the center ("Turn Off") icon.
The "Turn off computer" window disappears.
The desktop flickers very briefly, but remains unchanged.
Nothing else happens, no matter how long I wait.
Additional trouble-shooting info:
Weekly I copy my entire "C" drive to a Kanguru removable hard drive.
When I boot from that drive I can shut down the Windows on that drive in the
normal fashion, which I guess, indicates that the problem is somewhere on my
"C" drive.
Thanks for your interest...
~Ralph

If you remove the drive , how is it connected to the system ?
Internally ?

 

[Mick Murphy]

Have to right-clicked on the Task bar>Task manager> to see what process are
still running after trying to shut down?