Using Power Button to Shut Down

[LoganYoung]

I recently bought a new hard drive for my pc and installed XP fresh on that
drive. I had problems with ACPI in the setup and eventually figured out how
to get around these issues, but in the process, I'd reset my BIOS.

My issue now is that I can't just press my power button to properly shut
down and turn off the computer anymore. Is there a power setting in Windows
or a setting in the BIOS that allows me to do this?

Thanks for advance for any and all help!!!

 

[Paul]

I recently bought a new hard drive for my pc and installed XP fresh on that
drive. I had problems with ACPI in the setup and eventually figured out how
to get around these issues, but in the process, I'd reset my BIOS.

My issue now is that I can't just press my power button to properly shut
down and turn off the computer anymore. Is there a power setting in Windows
or a setting in the BIOS that allows me to do this?

Thanks for advance for any and all help!!!

Control Panelower Options:Advanced ?

"When I press the power button on my computer"

[Do nothing, Ask me what to do, Stand by, Hibernate, Shut down]

Mine is set to shut down, and it does work, because
I triggered it by accident yesterday.

But that may depend on whether the ACPI is working
or not. I don't know what happens to the options
with some other HAL present. I've never been in that
menu before. Re-enabling ACPI in the BIOS, may not
magically return everything to normal in Windows.
You may need the magic of "dumppo.exe" as well.

*******

To check the HAL, one way is

1) Open Device Manager.
2) Click the (+) next to the word "Computer"
3) Read the description. Mine is "ACPI Multiprocessor PC" and my
processor is a Core2 dual core. Transitions to other HALs
are possible, some easier than others. "Standard PC" would be
a pretty nasty one to deal with.

One way to Device Manager, is Start:Run and type devmgmt.msc
then hit enter.

Just a guess,
Paul

 

[LoganYoung]

The only option in the Advanced tab is "Always show icon in Task Bar"

 

[John John - MVP]

Paul will need to know if your computer is ACPI, follow his
instructions, go in the Device Manager and see what type of "Computer"
you have. If the computer is not shown as an ACPI PC the power options
will not work, they will not be available.

John

 

[Paul]

The only option in the Advanced tab is "Always show icon in Task Bar"

Does yours look like this ? This one is set to "Shut down" option,
just like mine is right now. Are you missing the lower section
or something ?

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/cms/contentPics/r00620021115shu01_02.gif

Have you checked your Device Manager "Computer" entry yet ?

Paul

 

[LoganYoung]

I used to be able to do this, so it must've been ACPI, but when I tried
installing XP on the new hard drive, for some reason, XP setup would blue
screen efore starting the installation because of "ACPI non-compliance"
I thought this might be a problem, but I just bypassed the ACPI and ran the
setup using the standard HAL anyway.

I guess that answers the question about the power button... Does anyone know
how I can switch over to using the ACPI HAL instead? Preferably without
re-installing XP.

 

[John John - MVP]

You cannot change from a Non-ACPI HAL to an ACPI HAL, you must reinstall
the operating system if you want to switch to an ACPI HAL.

John

 

[Jose]

I used to be able to do this, so it must've been ACPI, but when I tried
installing XP on the new hard drive, for some reason, XP setup would blue
screen efore starting the installation because of "ACPI non-compliance"
I thought this might be a problem, but I just bypassed the ACPI and ran the
setup using the standard HAL anyway.

I guess that answers the question about the power button... Does anyone know
how I can switch over to using the ACPI HAL instead? Preferably without
re-installing XP.

I would back up a step or two and take a look at your BIOS - ACPI
starts there.

XP will choose the appropriate hal.dll at installation time from a
table based on what it finds in the BIOS.

No ACPI BIOS = no ACPI compliant hal.dll.

No match at all = generic hal.dll.

If there is a mismatch, you will likely get a BSOD (A5) at
installation with a message to update your BIOS (sounds like you did).

You can choose to not upgrade your BIOS and force a basic hal.dll at
installation, but why not just update your BIOS and know everything is
fine instead of trying to shoehorn some hal.dll in later? Who know
what other BIOS updates you are missing?

There are only 7 (?) hal.dlls to choose from so you could certainly
easily replace yours by hand if you knew the right one, but I don't
know what the consequences would be.

Let us know how that works out!

 

[Paul]

I used to be able to do this, so it must've been ACPI, but when I tried
installing XP on the new hard drive, for some reason, XP setup would blue
screen efore starting the installation because of "ACPI non-compliance"
I thought this might be a problem, but I just bypassed the ACPI and ran the
setup using the standard HAL anyway.

I guess that answers the question about the power button... Does anyone know
how I can switch over to using the ACPI HAL instead? Preferably without
re-installing XP.

I think Jose is spot on, and you need to take a look in your BIOS.

There is some "F5" option during install, which is offered as a means
for the user to "pick the HAL". But obviously, you can't fit a square
peg in a round hole. If the BIOS is telling the computer it isn't ACPI,
then all the fiddling with F5 isn't going to change the results. So
F5 would be more of a curiosity, rather than a solution.

I had one computer, where ACPI *was* enabled, but the installer still
took a dislike. It took a BIOS update to fix that old machine. On some
retail motherboards, some amateur BIOS maintainer at the factory, will
break a feature like that, for one or two releases of BIOS (out of perhaps
a dozen of them). If you're patient, and the hardware gods smile on your
endeavor, you can fix it. Flashing the BIOS is not without risks, and
I'd only do that as a last resort (there is plenty of trivia associated
with flashing, enough for a separate posting). If the motherboard is known
to have a flash chip in a socket, if you brick the computer in the
attempt, a site like badflash.com can sell you a replacement EEPROM.
There are the odd cheesy motherboards, where the chip is soldered
directly to the motherboard, which makes triage a bit difficult for
a home user.

My guess, a trip to the BIOS and setting "ACPI 2.0" may help you.
The BIOS passes "tables" to the OS or installer CD booting the
machine, and it is the cryptic contents of those tables that
determine the OS response. If the right "features" aren't in the
table, you end up with "Standard PC" or the like. The Linux OS
lists the tables, during a boot sequence, if you're curious as
to what the 4 character table names are.

Flavors of HAL. Just so you know what the options are.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314063

"Method 1: Specify the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
Use this method first to try to resolve the Stop error message.

1. During the installation startup, press F5 when the "Setup is
inspecting your computer's hardware configuration" message is displayed."

So it could be a very easy fix. One trip to the BIOS, enable
ACPI 2.0 or later, save and exit. Then work through the details
of reinstall.

HTH,
Paul

 

[LoganYoung]

So what you're saying is that there's a setting I can change in my bios
that'll sort out the ACPI non-compliance and then I just have to re-install
Windows?

I fully intend to update my BIOS, but there's a little issue about getting
the update installed as I don't have a 3.5" floppy drive installed in the box
or disks to use...

I did check the Device Manager and it does say something like "Standard
Computer"
I'll have my brother look around in the BIOS to see if he can find the
ACPI2.0 setting if it exists.

 

[Paul]

So what you're saying is that there's a setting I can change in my bios
that'll sort out the ACPI non-compliance and then I just have to re-install
Windows?

I fully intend to update my BIOS, but there's a little issue about getting
the update installed as I don't have a 3.5" floppy drive installed in the box
or disks to use...

I did check the Device Manager and it does say something like "Standard
Computer"
I'll have my brother look around in the BIOS to see if he can find the
ACPI2.0 setting if it exists.

"Standard PC" means you don't have a working ACPI at the moment.

To summarize:

1) There is (usually) a setting in the BIOS with "ACPI" in the name.
Sometimes it allows a setting of version 1 or 2, which are versions of
the standard. Try setting it to version 2.0, or at least
ascertain that some kind of ACPI is enabled. Try your install again,
and either verify the F5 HAL selection now allows ACPI, or complete
the installation and verify the Computer entry in Device Manager
now has ACPI in the Properties name.

To make standby work, while you're there, you can look for a setting
for standby. It should include "S3" at least, because "S3" is the
name of the Standby Suspend To RAM state. That is the state that
allows all the fans to go off, but keeps the state of your computer
session stored in system RAM. You can wake the computer and pick up where
you left off. That won't work, if ACPI isn't working. S3 is part
of ACPI. Finding and fixing that isn't absolutely essential, but
is all part of setting up the computer properly. (It means less
work to do with "dumppo.exe" at some date in the future. Nicer to
get it right the first time.)

The ACPI technical site is here, but this isn't meant to help end users.

http://www.acpi.info/

2) Even if the BIOS setting is present, it can be broken. If you
try an install, after setting up what appears to be a valid ACPI
setting, and you're still not getting an ACPI install, it could be
a BIOS issue. A motherboard that might have an issue, might be
say seven years old. The more modern a motherboard gets, the less
likely the BIOS contains a broken ACPI implementation. If you suspect
the BIOS is broken, and is preventing the OS install from working properly,
then you would go looking for a different version of that BIOS. I
would not do that, unless all other possibilities had been exhausted.

HTH,
Paul

 

[LoganYoung]

As it turns out, my motherboard isn't on the manufacturer's list anymore.
It's a Gigabyte GA-8i945PM-RH board. Because it's not on Gigabyte's website,
I can't find any BIOS updates or basic information for it...
At what point during Windows setup do I press F5 to see the available HALs I
can use?

 

[Jose]

As it turns out, my motherboard isn't on the manufacturer's list anymore.
It's a Gigabyte GA-8i945PM-RH board. Because it's not on Gigabyte's website,
I can't find any BIOS updates or basic information for it...
At what point during Windows setup do I press F5 to see the available HALs I
can use?

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.

 

[Paul]

As it turns out, my motherboard isn't on the manufacturer's list anymore.
It's a Gigabyte GA-8i945PM-RH board. Because it's not on Gigabyte's website,
I can't find any BIOS updates or basic information for it...
At what point during Windows setup do I press F5 to see the available HALs I
can use?

That is an OEM board. Gigabyte makes it, under contract, for a major computer
maker. You need to go to the major computer maker web site, and look
under the model number of the computer. Boards made under contract, are
not supported directly by Gigabyte. They're not responsible to provide
a manual or BIOS updates on the Gigabyte site.

On occasion, your computer maker may have a BIOS update or they may not.
Generally, there are fewer BIOS updates for OEM boards. So you'd also need
to post the make and model number of the computer, to make it possible to
trace down more info.

(Picture of OEM GA-8I945PM-RH Socket 775 Motherboard)
http://yamaha.axiontech.com/prdt.php?item=79406

In a search engine, it looks like your computer might be a Packard Bell
of some sort. The motherboard part number shows up here.

http://support.packardbell.com/global/item/index.php?i=spec_mexiconf4&pi=platform_ibiza

BIOS screens are documented here. No signs of ACPI, so it must be
enabled permanently. The board is of a recent enough vintage,
to have a good ACPI implementation.

http://support.packardbell.com/global/item/index.php?i=instr_bios_mexico_nf4&pi=platform_ibiza

If you disable "Full Screen Logo" as shown here, you'll be able to see more text
fly by as the computer is starting. Do a "Save and Exit" to save the change
you made to the BIOS. Then, the computer should start again.

http://common.packardbell.com/itemnr/instr_bios_mexico_nf4/BIOS11.gif

The next time the computer starts, you'll see some initial text,
instead of the logo screen. Maybe you'll even see a BIOS ID string with
release number. Press the "pause" key to hold the text screen for
a moment, then press another key to let the boot process continue.

These could be the BIOS updates. While there are four lines of text
here, they're not all for the same product! I think your machine is
Mexico NF4, and there is only the one release number of 1.0J. Maybe
when you see a BIOS ID string on the screen, you'll be able to see the
BIOS is already at revision 1.0J.

http://support.packardbell.com/global/item/index.php?i=platform_ibiza&t=2006

Mexico NF4 BIOS Update for SmartTV 10J Windows XP 20-06-2007

Warning: Using an incorrect BIOS version might cause system failures.
Do not install this software unless you are certain that it
has been designed for your motherboard.

So tell us, just exactly what the computer looks like. For example,
maybe somebody could buy a left-over OEM GA-8I945PM-RH from axiontech
and slap it into a generic computer case. In which case, that would
leave you very confused. If it is a Packard Bell branded computer
or "SmartTV", maybe you can give some details.

In any case, don't flash it quite yet.

Paul