shut down proceedure

[bmail]

My computer takes a long time to shut down. It seems to hang on the
“Windows is Shutting Down” screen. Is it safe to turn the power off
with this screen still showing on the monitor or do I need to wait till
it finally shuts down on its own before turning the power switch to
off?
Using Windows XP pro corporate, 2 internal SATA HD's and 1 IDE HD, ZA
pro, Spysweeper, Eset NOD32, Truecrypt (to encrypt a volume on on the
root drive holding sensitive client info), Nvidia Geforce 6600 GT
graphics.

 

[Unknown]

How long do you wait? If it hangs on shutdown the only way to shut down is
to hold the power on
button in for at least 4 seconds. Have never heard of any problem doing
this.

 

[Jose]

My computer takes a long time to shut down. It seems to hang on the
“Windows is Shutting Down” screen. Is it safe to turn the power off
with this screen still showing on the monitor or do I need to wait till
it finally shuts down on its own before turning the power switch to
off?
Using Windows XP pro corporate, 2 internal SATA HD's and 1 IDE HD, ZA
pro, Spysweeper, Eset NOD32, Truecrypt (to encrypt a volume on on the
root drive holding sensitive client info), Nvidia Geforce 6600 GT
graphics.

It should not be hanging during shutdown. Using the power button is
not a fix. If you use the power button, you may soon be back with a
new problem titled - My system will no longer boot.

You could force your system to shutdown using unconventional methods,
but your system would still be broken.

If it hangs on shutdown something is wrong and it is generally best to
figure out and fix the issue and not try to workaround the issue.

Has it ever worked properly? If it used to work and doesn't now, what
do you think has changed since it did work?

Please provide additional information about your system.

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
the information back here.

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to
be private information to you, just delete it from the pasted
information.

This will minimize back and forth Q&A and eliminate guesswork.

 

[bmail]

It eventually will shut down on its own. It may take a minute at the
"windows is shutting down" screen, it may take longer, but it will
always eventually shut down.
The only way to shut down the computer using the power button on the
front of the computer is to push it in and hold it in "before" you
initiate a shut down procedure while still in windows...not after a
shut down procedure has started, unless the system hangs and does not
shut down at all and is frozen.
My question is, can I simply turn the power off to the computer once it
stops at the "windows is shutting down" screen. Obviously there is a
service, DLL or program that is still trying to shut down. Will cutting
the power cause any software problems if I simply shut the power off at
this point?

 

[Unknown]

Before shutting down, check to see what is running. Trial and error, shut
down a few items at a time till
shutdown is normal. Shut down virus scanning programs, etc. Is auto update
active?

 

[Peter Foldes]

See and read the following

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

 

[bmail]

Jose:
Yes, the computer use to take no more than 15 seconds to completel
shut down...no idea what has caused the change.


OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name
System Manufacturer To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 5 GenuineIntel ~3079 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1023.001, 6/20/2005
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINNT
System Directory C:\WINNT\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.551
(xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name
Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 405.91 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 2.40 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Peter,
I have seen that site before and have tried many of the suggestion
without luck. Thank

 

[Buffalo]

See and read the following

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

Great link.
Buffalo

 

[Jose]

Jose:
Yes, the computer use to take no more than 15 seconds to completely
shut down...no idea what has caused the change.

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name    
System Manufacturer     To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model    To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Type     X86-based PC
Processor       x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 5 GenuineIntel ~3079Mhz
BIOS Version/Date       American Megatrends Inc. 1023.001, 6/20/2005
SMBIOS Version  2.3
Windows Directory       C:\WINNT
System Directory        C:\WINNT\system32
Boot Device     \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale  United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer      Version = "5.1.2600.5512
(xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name      
Time Zone       Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory   1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory       405.91 MB
Total Virtual Memory    2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory        1.96 GB
Page File Space 2.40 GB
Page File       C:\pagefile.sys

Peter,
I have seen that site before and have tried many of the suggestions
without luck. Thanks

Was this a W2K system that was upgraded to XP? I ask because of the
WINNT references.

You are using Nvidia which is fine, but do you have the latest drivers
from their WWW site?

http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_6600.html

I don't have Nvidia anymore. but they used to have a Driver Helper
service that interfered with Shutdown. You can disable/stop the
service if you have it, test and leave it disabled or update (best) to
the latest driver which is supposed to resolve that issue.

You have a lot of "protection" on your system - ZA Pro, Spysweeper,
Eset NOD32... Is there anything else? They will have things
installed and running all the time. Do you think your problems may
have started after installing any of these?

Are you using the ZA firewall and the Windows firewall at the same
time? Using both is not a good idea. Pick one or the other.

Have you tried to disable your protections long enough to see how
Shutdown behaves when they are not running - or can you just stop
them, then try shutting down? Turn them all off, reboot and see how
shutdown works, then try them back one at a time.

Unchecking the Use Welcome screen option (Change the ways users logon
and off) sometimes works (but SP3 is supposed to fix that).

Do you have a Microsoft keyboard installed?

Do you have the Windows Fax Services installed?

Look in Device Manager for any ?s, Xs that indicate issues.

Open Device Manager, by clicking Start, Run and in the box enter:

%SystemRoot%\system32\devmgmt.msc

Click OK.

If none of this pans out, I would load up, clear the Event Log (or
make a copy), then shutdown letting it do it's own thing, then come
back and look in the Event Viewer for clues. If you see anything
interesting, post back here.

Here is a method to post the specific information about individual
events.

To see the Event Viewer logs, click Start, Settings, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.

A shortcut to Event Viewer is to click Start, Run and in the box
enter:

%SystemRoot%\system32\eventvwr.msc /s

Click OK to launch the Event Viewer.

The most interesting logs are usually the Application and System.
Some logs may be almost or completely empty.
Not every event is a problem, some are informational messages that
things are working okay and some are warnings.
No event should defy reasonable explanation.

Each event is sorted by Date and Time. Errors will have red Xs,
Warnings will have yellow !s.
Information messages have white is. Not every Error or Warning event
means there is a serious issue.
Some are excusable at startup time when Windows is booting. Try to
find just the events at the date
and time around your problem.

If you double click an event, it will open a Properties windows with
more information. On the right are
black up and down arrow buttons to scroll through the open events. The
third button that looks like
two pages on top of each other is used to copy the event details to
your Windows clipboard.

When you find an interesting event that occurred around the time of
your issue, click the third button
under the up and down arrows to copy the details and then you can
paste the details (right click, Paste
or CTRL-V) the detail text back here for analysis.

To get a fresh start on any Event Viewer log, you can choose to clear
the log (backing up the log is offered),
then reproduce your issue, then look at just the events around the
time of your issue.

 

[bmail]

Was this a W2K system that was upgraded to XP? I ask because of the
WINNT references.

********Yes it was.***********

You are using Nvidia which is fine, but do you have the latest drivers
from their WWW site?

http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_6600.html

I don't have Nvidia anymore. but they used to have a Driver Helper
service that interfered with Shutdown. You can disable/stop the
service if you have it, test and leave it disabled or update (best) to
the latest driver which is supposed to resolve that issue.

*******I have had it disabled for some time now************

You have a lot of "protection" on your system - ZA Pro, Spysweeper,
Eset NOD32... Is there anything else? They will have things
installed and running all the time. Do you think your problems may
have started after installing any of these?

*****These are all I have, and they have been part of my system fo
several years**************

Are you using the ZA firewall and the Windows firewall at the same
time? Using both is not a good idea. Pick one or the other.

****Windows firewall has always been disabled since I use ZA.********

Have you tried to disable your protections long enough to see how
Shutdown behaves when they are not running - or can you just stop
them, then try shutting down? Turn them all off, reboot and see how
shutdown works, then try them back one at a time.

*******I have tried stopping each of the protection software (using th
programs own shutdown feature) without any change. I realize that I a
not really completely stopping them as they probably remain resident i
memory, but figure the only way to really stop them would be t
uninstall each just for testing purposes...which I would prefer no
doing.**********

Unchecking the Use Welcome screen option (Change the ways users logon
and off) sometimes works (but SP3 is supposed to fix that).

*****not sure about what this is?***********

Do you have a Microsoft keyboard installed?

********no*************

Do you have the Windows Fax Services installed?

*******interesting question. I have noticed in the event viewer, fro
time to time, an error stating something about FAX service not startin
correctly. In Services FAX is set to Manual. It does not appear to b
started when I go to view that service in the Service
window.************

Look in Device Manager for any ?s, Xs that indicate issues.

********all good****************

Open Device Manager, by clicking Start, Run and in the box enter:

%SystemRoot%\system32\devmgmt.msc


*******event viewer for the most part seems fine...nothing jumps out a
me around the time of shutting down, in the event viewer.**********