Power Down Problem - WinXP Pro

[Bob S.]

This was originally posted on 5 Dec from RR but evidently never made it
since I can't find the original post nor any responses. So, one more time.

....................

I've done a lot of searching on this one and found a ton of info - which I'm
trying - but thought maybe I might get lucky and someone has a magic bullet
for this one.

Did a system repair, not a restore (WinXP Pro) after the CMOS battery gave
up the ghost and then it appears the MBR and some other files got corrupted.
Prior to this, doing a system shutdown worked fine, it closed windows and
then shut down the power.

After doing the repair, reloading SP-1 and all the updates from MS site, the
system no longer powers off automatically. I get the "Safe to shutoff the
system" screen. Tried using WinXP command, (shutdown -u), that gave me the
same result so I tried a 3rd party freebie shutdown program. It didn't work
either.

Anyone have any good ideas? I've done a lot of the
recommendations on the MS site and a couple of others. It goes through
shutting down windows, plays the shutdown tune, all the saving your settings
etc. and it goes to the "Safe to shutoff the system" - it just won't kick
out the signal to the power supply that shuts it down. Tried changing all
the settings in the BIOS (Power Management) and I've made sure that the
Power settings (Control Panel) were set for Always On (monitor and hd).

Magic bullet?

Thanks,

Bob S.

 

[Patti MacLeod]

Hi Bob,

If you haven't already done so, you could check out some of the suggestions
that are available here:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php#powerdown



Regards,

 

[Bob S.]

Patti,

Thank you and the cure was - doing another repair load. I tried about every
tip, KB article and suggestion on the site you recommended and finally just
pushed the big red button and rebooted from the CD and did the repair. It
now powers down as it should.

Thank you for your help - that solved it.

Bob S.

 

[Patti MacLeod]

You're welcome. Wish you had found an easier (or should I say less
time-consuming) method to solve the problem.



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Patti,

Thank you and the cure was - doing another repair load. I tried about every
tip, KB article and suggestion on the site you recommended and finally just
pushed the big red button and rebooted from the CD and did the repair. It
now powers down as it should.

Thank you for your help - that solved it.

Bob S.

 

[Alex Nichol]

After doing the repair, reloading SP-1 and all the updates from MS site, the
system no longer powers off automatically. I get the "Safe to shutoff the
system" screen. Tried using WinXP command, (shutdown -u), that gave me the
same result so I tried a 3rd party freebie shutdown program. It didn't work
either.

A probable cause is that your installation found the BIOS does not
adequately support the 'Advanced Configuration & Power Interface'
(ACPI). It then installs the older APM, but leaves it disabled. Go to
Control Panel - Power Options, and if there is an APM page, check
'Enable APM' on it.

 

[Bob S.]

Alex,

Your analysis is probably correct since this is some older but still very
functional hardware. Several years back I built about 10 of these systems -
all with the same type and model motherboard. All did show the APM tab in
the Power Options except after doing the repair - then it vanished. Doing a
second repair did not make the APM tab show up but it did include an
additional entry under the Advanced tab for "When I press the power button
on my computer" which was missing.

So I suspect that by redoing the repair load, it rebuilt the HAL and picked
up enough info this time to make it work. Sometimes ya just can't explain
all the mysteries....;-)

Thanks for you help,

Bob S.