Logoff, reboot or shutdown

[Just D.]

All,

From some point my home desktop - Windows XP Pro with all service packs
installed - refuses to logoff, shutdown or reboot without any visible
reason. I tried several different scanning or antivirus tools with no
results. So computer looks clean and works good, just one problem appears
regularly. If call the Task Manager I can delete almost everything from the
memory one by one including Explorer.exe, then I can call the reboot/logoff
popup pressing 3 buttons (multi login is off for now) and after several
tries it finally tells me that it's dangerous to shut down without all
programs stopped, etc. and after 3-5 tries it goes to reboot.

Any good idea what's going on? It appeared in the beginning on January.
First I tried to roll back to the previous condition from Acronis. Well, it
helped for 2-3 days, then MS installed some service pack, I guess, and the
problem appeared again. I removed almost everything from the system. It was
initially the dev machine, so all VSs and SDKs are deleted, all environments
that I don't need are deleted, database engines, IIS, etc. are deleted. All
stuff that was ever used is gone. Is it looking like a virus that keeps the
system up and running for its own purposes, or possibly the MS service pack
appeared in the very beginning of this year? I even "deleted" IE from the
system, although it's not actually deleted, you know MS, but it's not the
default browser anymore for sure. So I tried many different ways to get it
working. What I could do again is to roll back from the backup, then to try
to install all latest service packs to get the one which probably badly
afects the system.

Any idea would be appreciated!

D.

 

[Malke]

All,

From some point my home desktop - Windows XP Pro with all service packs
installed - refuses to logoff, shutdown or reboot without any visible
reason. I tried several different scanning or antivirus tools with no
results. So computer looks clean and works good, just one problem appears
regularly. If call the Task Manager I can delete almost everything from
the memory one by one including Explorer.exe, then I can call the
reboot/logoff popup pressing 3 buttons (multi login is off for now) and
after several tries it finally tells me that it's dangerous to shut down
without all programs stopped, etc. and after 3-5 tries it goes to reboot.

(snippage)

Shutdown issues are generally caused by a program and/or process that is
refusing to exit gracefully. The program and/or process can be from malware
or can be legitimate (such as an invasive antivirus like Norton or McAfee).
If you are using a Norton or McAfee product, uninstall it and replace with
a better program such as NOD32, Kasperksy, or Avast (free). The Windows
Firewall is adequate for most people.

A.The first step is always to make sure your computer is virus/malware free.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

B. If the computer is virus/malware-free, drivers are current, and no Norton
or McAfee programs are installed, then do clean-boot troubleshooting to see
which program/process is the culprit:

How to perform a clean boot in Vista and XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796

C. If you need more information, here is an excellent shutdown
troubleshooter:

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

Standard caveat: If troubleshooting the issue is too difficult - and there
is absolutely no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of tea - take the
machine to a computer repair shop. This will not be your local
BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place. Get recommendations from family,
friends, colleagues.

Malke

 

[Just D.]

Thanks for your answer, Malke,

Shutdown issues are generally caused by a program and/or process that is
refusing to exit gracefully. The program and/or process can be from
malware
or can be legitimate (such as an invasive antivirus like Norton or
McAfee).
If you are using a Norton or McAfee product, uninstall it and replace
with

I'm not using that for sure. ALthough I'm having a free corporate edition
of Norton I had a funny chance to talk to their support, which is located in
India, over 2 years ago. It was funny because there guys could not
understand the difference between the domain name and application name. When
I talked to about 4 or 5 guys including their supervisor I gave up and
completely went to Avast.

a better program such as NOD32, Kasperksy, or Avast (free). The Windows
Firewall is adequate for most people.

Not always. It's lazy and often doesn't notice that some app wants to
contact the Internet letting it do that. SO I'm using both Windows Firewall
and one external firewall to have a better control over the apps working in
my system including port sniffing, etc.

A.The first step is always to make sure your computer is virus/malware
free.
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

I will try with these guys, but I have already tries several apps including
Spybot, Windows Defender, Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, Avast of
course as well as my own tricks. Everything's looking clear. And the real
problem appears when/after I install the service pack from MS.

How to perform a clean boot in Vista and XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796

Good move. But I have already stepped this stage several times. That's what
I usually do as soon as I install a brand new system from scratch to
minimize the access to my computer.

C. If you need more information, here is an excellent shutdown
troubleshooter:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm

I saw that as well. The drivers and services for the mouse, web camera, etc.
are stopped or killed, with no luck although. It should be mentioned,
although, that all this stuff was working and I didn't have any issues just
a few weeks ago, actually I suspect one of the sevice packs or updates that
MS granted all of us with. I remember how I killed my computer in December
2007 when installed some stupid SP from MS, the complete roll back for the
whole system partition made with Acronis helped me to get recovered in 20
minutes.

Standard caveat: If troubleshooting the issue is too difficult - and there
is absolutely no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of tea - take the
machine to a computer repair shop. This will not be your local
BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place. Get recommendations from family,
friends, colleagues.

Well, maybe 23+ years of my Computer Pro experience are not good enough
because I still can't treat all MS bugs and issues like these.

The problem is that I have already found a few guys onthe Internet who got
the same issues with their machines. Same behavior - shut down / reboot /
logoff - no reaction from the computer at all. Not even tries. And in
addition - the very latest service pack that I just installed yeaterday with
some "critical" updates brought one more surprise, both my XP computers at
home stopped shutting of the monitor power, although the option is still set
correctly.

If anybody know what patch exactly did that to our computers or got a
similar problem please let me know.

Malke
MS-MVP

Just D.
MNVP

 

[Daave]

SO I'm using both Windows Firewall and one external firewall to have a
better control over the apps working in my system including port
sniffing, etc.

You should never run more than one firewall simultaneously! If you want
to be able to monitor and block outgoing traffic, merely disable the
Windows Firewall and run the other. I'm sure it will also take care of
incoming traffic! (Which one is it?)

Wait, allow me to correct myself! When you say "external", what do you
mean? Do you have a hardware firewall? If so, disregard my first
paragraph! No potential conflict at all!

 

[Just D.]

Daave,

I was using both for a while, for at least last couple years, and never had
a problem. The purpose of both is different. Both are software ones. It's
not an antivirus software that should never be used together.

As for external, I got one in router, but it has nothing to the internal
Windows problems. I usually don't play with the confguration once it's done,
just polish form time to time when I add something new.

Just D.

 

[Daave]

I was using both for a while, for at least last couple years, and
never had a problem. The purpose of both is different. Both are
software ones.

You're lucky then. There have been reports of software firewalls
conflicting with each other.

 

[Just D.]

Well, luck means experience. I know that I can restore the whole computer
from Acronis backup in less than an hour, the system partition needs only 20
minutes to be completely rewritten. It saved me several times, especially
after critical MS updates about 14 months ago. So critical that the system
was killed after I installed them.

Just D.

"Daave"> You're lucky then. There have been reports of software firewalls