Windows 9x/XP doesn't shut down - any ideas

Posted by: domfjbrown on 17 February 2004

I've had this problem on both 98SE and XP Home Edition. Basically, the PC won't always shut down when asked - it seems to lock up just after de-initialising the USB sockets. It shuts down maybe 1 in 10 times properly...

While I can hold the power button in for five seconds, I'm wandering whether there's a simple fix, as if it's not getting to the part where the PSU is told to turn off, maybe it's not saving all the settings properly either.

I've heard the old chestnut of "remove the shutdown sound" and that makes B-all difference, so does anyone know what gives here? Also, sometimes a defrag helps, but I've got only 20% of my HDD used, so this seems unlikely.

Any ideas gratefully received Smile

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Posted on: 17 February 2004 by inkipak
Hi Dom,

I've had a similar experience with my laptop (Win2k) - It dosen't like shutting down when my 'el cheapo' UMAX scanner is attached.
The problem is solved by unplugging the scanner's USB before shutting down.

Dodgy USB driver perhaps?... I have never got to the root of the problem though.

Hope this helps.
Posted on: 17 February 2004 by Basil
Reboot your PC, wait two minutes and then press CTRL/ALT/DEL and list all the programs running.
Posted on: 17 February 2004 by David Stewart
I've suffered from W98SE failing to shut down properly as well. Even worse it sometimes criticises me for failing to shut it down properly and by way of punishment wastes even more of my time by insisting on running 'Scandisk'.

'Windows update' identifies a couple of possible fixes for this problem. I have to say neither has been any help to me, but it might be worth a punt if you've not already done so.

I'm surprised though that this still happens in XP. USB isn't exactly leading edge technology these days??

David
Posted on: 17 February 2004 by Tim Jones
This happened to my XP (Home) for about three months. Not USB-related (it had worked fine with my ADSL modem for months beforehand), it was cured by downloading an XP "update patch" from the MS site.

If you go through the update list on the Miccrosoft site, just de-select all the security ones and download the big ones called (I think) "cumulative updates" or similar.

Tim
Posted on: 17 February 2004 by Roy T
A good idea is to use the Event Viewer to see what is happening, I know this works on XP but I am not too sure about what is needed on other 9X boxes.

Control Panel|Performance & Maintenance|Administrative Tools|Computer Management|
Event Viewer.

By looking at the SYSTEM and APPLICATION logs you will be able to see processes start,stop,fail or whatever - this should give you an idea of what is making your machine ill.

Roy
Posted on: 17 February 2004 by Martin D
Im no geek, well not a PC one anyway. Have a look here though.
Martin
http://aumha.org/win4/a/shutdown.htm
Posted on: 19 February 2004 by domfjbrown
Nice one guys - I'll have to check this out next week as I'm packing tonight for my cousin's birthday "pool" party - a new one on me Smile

I reckon like you say, it's probably a process falling over, but I might well try just unplugging my USB hub (thereby removing ALL USB devices at once) and seeing what happens...

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.