D
David M. Dickerson
Hello, everyone.
On Thursday, 17 June 2004, I suddenly started having a
problem with Windows XP Professional (SP1 with all updates
installed) taking over a minute to shut down, after the
blank blue screen appears. The shutdown process has been
almost immediate until this point.
The only notable change that occurred before this problem
is that I ran "Check Disk" (with the option automatically
to fix file system errors, upon restarting) and "Disk
Cleanup."
Check Disk revealed no errors. One mistake I fear that I
may have made is to remove temporary files in Disk
Cleanup. I failed to notice the wording that "You can
safely delete temporary files that have NOT been modified
IN OVER A WEEK" (emphasis mine) and I fear that I may have
deleted an important temporary file (or more) -- date
which is gone forever. (Per instructions in an article in
June's PCWORLD, I also deleted all old restore points
before creating a new one -- but after I had made my,
perhaps, fatal mistakes!)
I neglected to back up my system with PowerQuest Drive
Image before performing the above-mentioned tasks! (I was
stupid, and I foolishly reasoned that I did not need a
backup, because I was planning to back up the system
before defragmenting the hard drive -- my next step to
improve system performance.)
I have searched this newsgroup and the Internet for the
most common causes of slow shutdowns in Windows XP Pro,
but my case did not apply to those reasons. (I do not, for
example, have the system set to clear the page file upon
shutdown, nor do I have an NVIDIA graphics card.)
The problem occurs if I turn off all running programs; it
also occurs if I boot in Safe Mode and then shut down.
(Unlike Linux, of course, Windows XP does not provide a
verbose shutdown display, which might be of great help.)
I have installed Microsoft's UPHClean, because I got
applicable Event Viewer errors. In addition, I have used
RegEdit to make the following changes, in hopes of
isolating the cause of the trouble:
-
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\UPHClean\Parameters\
REPORT_ONLY to 1.
-
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\UPHClean\Parameters\
CALLSTACK_LOG to 1.
I have restarted and shut down the system several times,
but Event Viewer shows no errors at all now, nor is
UPHClean providing any messages in Event Viewer about the
shut-down process. (It would be ideal if a future version
of UPHClean had its own log file.)
Could I have made a fatal mistake by, perhaps, deleting an
important temporary file (or more)? Unfortunately, I do
not recall the names of the files that I deleted, although
there were not that many of them.
I have tried to submit this problem to Microsoft's on-line
support staff, but their server is down now for
maintenance.
I realize that I should provide more details, which I
gladly will do, but this problem has occurred suddenly, is
chronic, and started only after I ran Check Disk and Disk
Cleanup.
I have been using Windows XP Professional almost since its
release, and the thought of having to do an installation
from scratch sickens me. I could never get the system back
to where it is exactly (without the shutdown problem) and
the process of restoration (e.g., installing all software)
would take days.
I was planning on installing Macromedia Studio MX with
Flash Pro on my PC, but if I have corrupted XP
Professional and if cannot fix this problem, I will not
feel safe installing this software on the PC, and I will
consider installing it on my G4 Power Macintosh running
Mac OS X (10.2) -- which means no Dreamweaver support for
ColdFusion coding.
I would appreciate any suggestions and will gladly provide
additional information. As I say, I have researched the
major Web sites about this problem, and the possible
causes that I have seen do not seem to apply to me. (I
have also been using O'Reilly's 'Windows XP Annoyances' as
a guide.)
Thank you very much, in advance!
Cordially,
David
On Thursday, 17 June 2004, I suddenly started having a
problem with Windows XP Professional (SP1 with all updates
installed) taking over a minute to shut down, after the
blank blue screen appears. The shutdown process has been
almost immediate until this point.
The only notable change that occurred before this problem
is that I ran "Check Disk" (with the option automatically
to fix file system errors, upon restarting) and "Disk
Cleanup."
Check Disk revealed no errors. One mistake I fear that I
may have made is to remove temporary files in Disk
Cleanup. I failed to notice the wording that "You can
safely delete temporary files that have NOT been modified
IN OVER A WEEK" (emphasis mine) and I fear that I may have
deleted an important temporary file (or more) -- date
which is gone forever. (Per instructions in an article in
June's PCWORLD, I also deleted all old restore points
before creating a new one -- but after I had made my,
perhaps, fatal mistakes!)
I neglected to back up my system with PowerQuest Drive
Image before performing the above-mentioned tasks! (I was
stupid, and I foolishly reasoned that I did not need a
backup, because I was planning to back up the system
before defragmenting the hard drive -- my next step to
improve system performance.)
I have searched this newsgroup and the Internet for the
most common causes of slow shutdowns in Windows XP Pro,
but my case did not apply to those reasons. (I do not, for
example, have the system set to clear the page file upon
shutdown, nor do I have an NVIDIA graphics card.)
The problem occurs if I turn off all running programs; it
also occurs if I boot in Safe Mode and then shut down.
(Unlike Linux, of course, Windows XP does not provide a
verbose shutdown display, which might be of great help.)
I have installed Microsoft's UPHClean, because I got
applicable Event Viewer errors. In addition, I have used
RegEdit to make the following changes, in hopes of
isolating the cause of the trouble:
-
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\UPHClean\Parameters\
REPORT_ONLY to 1.
-
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\UPHClean\Parameters\
CALLSTACK_LOG to 1.
I have restarted and shut down the system several times,
but Event Viewer shows no errors at all now, nor is
UPHClean providing any messages in Event Viewer about the
shut-down process. (It would be ideal if a future version
of UPHClean had its own log file.)
Could I have made a fatal mistake by, perhaps, deleting an
important temporary file (or more)? Unfortunately, I do
not recall the names of the files that I deleted, although
there were not that many of them.
I have tried to submit this problem to Microsoft's on-line
support staff, but their server is down now for
maintenance.
I realize that I should provide more details, which I
gladly will do, but this problem has occurred suddenly, is
chronic, and started only after I ran Check Disk and Disk
Cleanup.
I have been using Windows XP Professional almost since its
release, and the thought of having to do an installation
from scratch sickens me. I could never get the system back
to where it is exactly (without the shutdown problem) and
the process of restoration (e.g., installing all software)
would take days.
I was planning on installing Macromedia Studio MX with
Flash Pro on my PC, but if I have corrupted XP
Professional and if cannot fix this problem, I will not
feel safe installing this software on the PC, and I will
consider installing it on my G4 Power Macintosh running
Mac OS X (10.2) -- which means no Dreamweaver support for
ColdFusion coding.
I would appreciate any suggestions and will gladly provide
additional information. As I say, I have researched the
major Web sites about this problem, and the possible
causes that I have seen do not seem to apply to me. (I
have also been using O'Reilly's 'Windows XP Annoyances' as
a guide.)
Thank you very much, in advance!
Cordially,
David