PC wont shut down

[wookette]

my friend cant get her pc to shut down. shes running on xp, selects start >turn off comp> and then it tells her its saving her settings then tells her shes logging off and then the logging off screen just sits there suspended doing NOTHING! she usually turns off by holding button in and when pc re-boots its fine - just starts loading windows rather than giving her warning sign of not shutting off puter the conventional way. any ideas folks?

[Paulst30]

I imagine theres a program or driver that cant close properlly, most of the IT people that experience this problem do a fix for it called a forced shutdown where it closes all programs no matter whats happening.

It involves editing the system registry, however not for the faint hearted, i'll have a wee look for an alternative cause the registry can leave you feeling eye bogled

[ACtheTROLL]

two things it could be - but difficult without more details

Start by looking in control panel | sounds & Autio | sounds
then look for shutdown windows - remove the sound.
(if the file is corrupt or missing windows just sits there!)

check the disk for errors
How much disc space left on drive? .... if almost full can cause problems - in my comp - right click C: | properties | disk cleanup - just be careful
go to
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp - and delete anything older than today
look in C:\WINDOWS and delete all the blue files that start "!$NtUninstallK"
DO NOT DELETE "$hf_mig$"
(defrag the disc also - It won't hurt ... and speeds up deletion of page file)

[wookette]

cheers paulst30 - its driving her nuts!

[Paulst30]

There is no real alternative apart from actually editing the registry buts its very simple so heres the steps ok

Action: These allow you to end tasks faster, shut down faster and speed up the menu display. *All Levels
Purpose: Performance, responsiveness


start> run > regedit and enter

a screen will appear with 2 sides on the left a list of four things and on the right its blank. Navigate to these parts and its just like using explorer for folders. When you get to the destination double click the part on the right side plane to change each value.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"ForegroundLockTimeout"=dword:00000000
"HungAppTimeout"="4000"
"MenuShowDelay"="200"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="5000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="5000"



If its not so clear let me know ok

[Paulst30]

This will force the non responding applications to shutdown and thus allowing the pc to shutdwon or reboot normally

1. Launch RegEdit (select Start > Run, type regedit and click OK) and browse to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

2. Find the string called AutoEndTasks. Right-click it, select Modify from the pop-up menu, and change the data value from 0 to 1. (If you can�t find this string, create it by selecting Edit > New > String Value and set the data value to 1.)

3. Close RegEdit and reboot.

hope that helps

[Paulst30]

Before ppl jump on my head i better tell you that making changes can really harm your pc if not done right so back up the old registry to a folder in the drive by doing this o

Backing up your registry is easy. Simply open RegEdit (click Start > Run, type regedit and click OK), then select File > Export from the main menu. You can export a copy of your registry to any folder on any hard drive in your system. Exporting a copy to the desktop is usually easiest.

[ACtheTROLL]

Paul

Sorry if I gave you that impression

's just I always regard the registry as the last port of call.
Most PCs are an accumulation of rubbish collected over time ... and once the lockups start ... the temp folders get out of hand in no time.

My habit now is that while I'm still finding out the problems ... I clean out as much rubbish as possible ...
A simple batch file is generally enough

Often the problem is gone by the time I know specifically what the problem was.

Your reg hack is almost certainly going to cure the problem .... but if the disk is fragged, full of errors & temp files etc ... the fix won't last.

People underestimate the ammount of free space required just for NTFS to run correctly ...(MS rec 25% free!).