Shutdown Problem

[Roger Fink]

I'm having an occasional problem, say one in every eight shutdowns, where
instead of shutting down normally the computer will go into a sequential
program by program shutdown, with a progress dialog box for each, ending
with explorer.exe. I do have goback installed so there is writing to the
7200rpm drive after I click the shutdown button, but I also had goback
installed in a slower, less robust Windows 98SE box, and never had this
problem.

Can this be corrected, or is this an inherent problem with W2K?

 

[Newbie Coder]

Roger,

What do the event logs say? Any errors that may pinpoint the cause

There is a way of automatically ending non-responding programs, which could
help. Here's the registry keys:

Current User:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

All Users:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

Key: 'AutoEndTasks'
Key Type: REG_SZ (String)
Values: 0 = Disabled, 1 = Enabled

Key 2: 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Key Type: REG_SZ (String)
Value: 1000

The 'WaitToKillAppTimeout' should already exist, but the other key you will
have to create most probably

Setting the timeout to 1 second (1000) will help shutdown as you have so
many non-responding apps

To create or modify the registry, do this:

Click START | RUN
Type 'regedit' (without quotes) & press ENTER
Navigate to the said key(s) in turn & change or create the key in the right
pane
Close the registry editor when done

Please Note: You should BACKUP the keys before you alter them in case you
make a mistake. That can be done by using EXPORT REGISTRY KEY from the
REGISTRY menu

I hope this helps,

 

[Roger Fink]

Thanks NC for that detailed reply, which I do appreciate. I'm quite at home
modifying the registry, but given the extent of the proposed modifications,
I'm a little concerned about the law of unintended consequences, which could
rear its ugly head too far down the road for GoBack to revert past it, or
for my system back-up utility to be a wise option. (I could save all my
exports, as you suggest, but as soon as I delete them that's when things
head south).

I think the source of the problem - and it's a difference between the new
and old setups - may be the Linksys Wireless PCI card that is installed in
this machine (which does not use a wireless connection at the moment), and
which goes into a scanning mode at boot-up. I'm making it a point to disable
it from the system tray, let's see if that solves it. If it turns out to be
the culprit I'll probably just disable it permanently until needed.

 

[Newbie Coder]

Hi Roger,

Thanks for the reply!

You said you have around 7 hung applications so the software for the Linksys
card maybe one of them but I cannot see how it would make the others
unresponsive on shutdown

When an application shuts down via Windows it listens for the
WM_QUERYENDSESSION Windows message & handles the ending of the application
from there

If you have looked in the event viewer you maybe able to pinpoint the source
of the error

What applications or processes are running when you shut down or what
applications have you just closed yourself before the computer shuts down?

Will await a response,

--
Newbie Coder
(It's just a name)