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From: Anna on 5 Jan 2009 22:20 "Tom Hall" <aria1946(a)gmail.com.spoo> wrote in message news:kc22m49qqvnbbjh6hgmms9uh4lgjo44k4e(a)4ax.com... > XP Pro SP3 here. > > Coincidentally or not, since installing the critical update that Microsoft > released outside of its normal update schedule before Christmas, my > computer will no longer shut down or restart by itself. > > The system proceeds through the usual process until nothing is left but a > blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is still functional) - and it > stops > there. > > I've tried uninstalling the critical update and even uninstalled video > drivers I had previously installed to support an ATI Radeon HD 4870 > graphics card I had added about a week prior to the appearance of the > problem. > > Neither of these worked. The system will not power down for either a > shutdown or restart. > > The system is basically an Intel system, about 4 years old now: > > CPU Type Unknown, 3000 MHz (3.75 x 800) > Motherboard Name Unknown > Motherboard Chipset Intel Grantsdale-G i915G/GL/GV > System Memory 2016 MB > BIOS Type AMI (04/29/05) > > When the room is quiet, I can hear disk activity for a few seconds after > the screen clears, then eventually it stops. I've left the system in this > state for as long as several hours and returned to find it unchanged. > > My understanding is that it's probably a hardware issue (powerdown) rather > than a software (shutdown-restart) issue, but I'm not a hardware guy so I > don't know how to troubleshoot the problem. > > Any advice would be most welcome. > > Tom Tom: The very first order of priority for you is to back up any data that you want or need from your HDD. Needless to say the backup should be to another HDD or some removable media, e.g., flash drive, CD/DVD, etc. Just to clarify the precise nature of the problem you're experiencing... 1. You state "The system proceeds through the usual process until nothing is left but a blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is still functional) - and it stops there." This tends to indicate that you're referring to the *bootup* process, i.e., the boot fails so that you never reach the desktop. Is that so? 2. But then you indicate (as diagnostic procedures) that you've uninstalled some MS critical updates and a graphics driver which (one or the other) you suspected of causing your problem. So that tends to indicate you've been able to boot to a Desktop, yes? 3. I assume you've since reinstalled the (current) ATI graphics driver for your video card or are you working with the previously installed driver? 3. Then you indicate (that at some point) "the screen clears". Could you more clearly explain that comment? Are you indicating that the "blue screen" disappears and the Desktop screen appears? 4. And could you explain more precisely the fact that "(t)he system will not power down for either a shutdown or restart."? I take it you're referring to the situation where nothing happens when you try a normal "Turn Off Computer" routine, i.e., neither pressing the Turn Off or Restart buttons work. So you're forced to use the PC's power button to shutdown. Is that it? 5. I assume this is a desktop PC, right? Is it an OEM machine (make/model?) or did you build it? Assuming it is a desktop PC do you know your way around the "innards" of a machine? 6. Re the XP OS installation CD you have - full retail version? non-branded OEM? Recovery/restore disk if such was provided by OEM with your machine? 7. And, of course, you're reasonably certain your system is malware-free, yes? It's hard, if not impossible (at least for me), to tell at this point whether the problem is hardware or software-related. Possibly it's just a mildly-corrupted OS problem that can be corrected through the sfc /scannow and/or the chkdsk /r processes. Have you tried them? And if that's a no-go then possibly a Repair install of the OS will resolve your problem. Obviously all this assumes the problem involves a corrupted OS and is not hardware-related. And further assumes you get a functional boot so that those commands can be invoked from within a running system. It would be a good idea to check out your HDD in the meantime with the freely available HDD diagnostic utility usually available from the manufacturer of the disk. Just on the off-chance that we may be dealing with a defective disk. Anyway, in view of my above questions (and if you want to further pursue this matter along the lines of my questions), would you provide a precise step-by-step description of the problem starting with the time you first power-on the machine, through the time the problem arises, describing exactly what happens at that time, and then describing your actions with respect to shutting down the machine? Anna
From: Gerry on 6 Jan 2009 04:54 Anna This is a shutdown not boot problem. -- Regards. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anna wrote: > "Tom Hall" <aria1946(a)gmail.com.spoo> wrote in message > news:kc22m49qqvnbbjh6hgmms9uh4lgjo44k4e(a)4ax.com... >> XP Pro SP3 here. >> >> Coincidentally or not, since installing the critical update that >> Microsoft released outside of its normal update schedule before >> Christmas, my computer will no longer shut down or restart by itself. >> >> The system proceeds through the usual process until nothing is left >> but a blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is still functional) - >> and it stops >> there. >> >> I've tried uninstalling the critical update and even uninstalled >> video drivers I had previously installed to support an ATI Radeon HD >> 4870 graphics card I had added about a week prior to the appearance >> of the problem. >> >> Neither of these worked. The system will not power down for either a >> shutdown or restart. >> >> The system is basically an Intel system, about 4 years old now: >> >> CPU Type Unknown, 3000 MHz (3.75 x >> 800) Motherboard Name Unknown >> Motherboard Chipset Intel Grantsdale-G i915G/GL/GV >> System Memory 2016 MB >> BIOS Type AMI (04/29/05) >> >> When the room is quiet, I can hear disk activity for a few seconds >> after the screen clears, then eventually it stops. I've left the >> system in this state for as long as several hours and returned to >> find it unchanged. My understanding is that it's probably a hardware >> issue (powerdown) >> rather than a software (shutdown-restart) issue, but I'm not a >> hardware guy so I don't know how to troubleshoot the problem. >> >> Any advice would be most welcome. >> >> Tom > > > Tom: > The very first order of priority for you is to back up any data that > you want or need from your HDD. Needless to say the backup should be > to another HDD or some removable media, e.g., flash drive, CD/DVD, > etc. > Just to clarify the precise nature of the problem you're > experiencing... > 1. You state "The system proceeds through the usual process until > nothing is left but a blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is > still functional) - and it stops there." This tends to indicate that > you're referring to the *bootup* process, i.e., the boot fails so > that you never reach the desktop. Is that so? > > 2. But then you indicate (as diagnostic procedures) that you've > uninstalled some MS critical updates and a graphics driver which (one > or the other) you suspected of causing your problem. So that tends to > indicate you've been able to boot to a Desktop, yes? > > 3. I assume you've since reinstalled the (current) ATI graphics > driver for your video card or are you working with the previously > installed driver? > 3. Then you indicate (that at some point) "the screen clears". Could > you more clearly explain that comment? Are you indicating that the > "blue screen" disappears and the Desktop screen appears? > > 4. And could you explain more precisely the fact that "(t)he system > will not power down for either a > shutdown or restart."? I take it you're referring to the situation > where nothing happens when you try a normal "Turn Off Computer" > routine, i.e., neither pressing the Turn Off or Restart buttons work. > So you're forced to use the PC's power button to shutdown. Is that it? > > 5. I assume this is a desktop PC, right? Is it an OEM machine > (make/model?) or did you build it? Assuming it is a desktop PC do you > know your way around the "innards" of a machine? > > 6. Re the XP OS installation CD you have - full retail version? > non-branded OEM? Recovery/restore disk if such was provided by OEM > with your machine? > 7. And, of course, you're reasonably certain your system is > malware-free, yes? > > It's hard, if not impossible (at least for me), to tell at this point > whether the problem is hardware or software-related. Possibly it's > just a mildly-corrupted OS problem that can be corrected through the > sfc /scannow and/or the chkdsk /r processes. Have you tried them? And > if that's a no-go then possibly a Repair install of the OS will > resolve your problem. Obviously all this assumes the problem involves > a corrupted OS and is not hardware-related. And further assumes you > get a functional boot so that those commands can be invoked from > within a running system. > It would be a good idea to check out your HDD in the meantime with the > freely available HDD diagnostic utility usually available from the > manufacturer of the disk. Just on the off-chance that we may be > dealing with a defective disk. > > Anyway, in view of my above questions (and if you want to further > pursue this matter along the lines of my questions), would you > provide a precise step-by-step description of the problem starting > with the time you first power-on the machine, through the time the > problem arises, describing exactly what happens at that time, and > then describing your actions with respect to shutting down the > machine? Anna
From: watchman220 on 6 Jan 2009 09:43 I have the same issue on a vaio laptop. The problem is specifically when shut down or restart is selected from Start Menu or any other way, it almost shuts down. But it hangs on blue screen and an arrow cursor. It is not frozen, cursor can be moved. To finish shut down, the power button must be held in. Everything else is non responsive. It would appear that the system is not affected adversely by the forced shutdown. THere are no notifications of serious errors on reboot. It simply won't shut down like it is supposed to. I should note that I experienced this after running a repair of the operating system. This whole thing started when I began receiving a windows\system32\hal.dll error. Just previous to this error there was a flash about failure in the boot.ini file. SO I rebuilt the boot.ini file using bootcfg. Then it would boot but not all the way. THat is when I decided to run windows repair. Everything works fine now EXCEPT the shut down. I am curious about anyone else's results with the User Profile Hive Cleanup tool. Here is the link to microsoft site for download http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en I will let you know when I get this resolved. What the fix was. Thanks, watchman220 -- watchman220 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ watchman220's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/watchman220.htm View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/windows-xp-support/1097764.htm http://forums.techarena.in
From: Gerry on 6 Jan 2009 11:09 watchman220 Does your computer pass the validation test the link is asking you to submit to? -- Hope this helps. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ watchman220 wrote: > I have the same issue on a vaio laptop. The problem is specifically > when shut down or restart is selected from Start Menu or any other > way, it almost shuts down. But it hangs on blue screen and an arrow > cursor. It is not frozen, cursor can be moved. To finish shut down, > the power button must be held in. Everything else is non responsive. > It would appear that the system is not affected adversely by the > forced shutdown. THere are no notifications of serious errors on > reboot. > It simply won't shut down like it is supposed to. > > I should note that I experienced this after running a repair of the > operating system. > > This whole thing started when I began receiving a > windows\system32\hal.dll error. > Just previous to this error there was a flash about failure in the > boot.ini file. SO I rebuilt the boot.ini file using bootcfg. Then > it would boot but not all the way. THat is when I decided to run > windows repair. Everything works fine now EXCEPT the shut down. > > I am curious about anyone else's results with the User Profile Hive > Cleanup tool. > Here is the link to microsoft site for download > > http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en > > I will let you know when I get this resolved. What the fix was. > > Thanks, > > watchman220
From: Tom Hall on 7 Jan 2009 16:02
On Tue, 6 Jan 2009 20:13:54 +0530, watchman220 <watchman220.3llkzb(a)DoNotSpam.com> wrote: > >I have the same issue on a vaio laptop. The problem is specifically >when shut down or restart is selected from Start Menu or any other way, >it almost shuts down. But it hangs on blue screen and an arrow cursor. >It is not frozen, cursor can be moved. To finish shut down, the power >button must be held in. Everything else is non responsive. >It would appear that the system is not affected adversely by the forced >shutdown. THere are no notifications of serious errors on reboot. >It simply won't shut down like it is supposed to. Yup, that's exactly the situation here as well. No entries in the system log, no warnings or boxes popping up at either shutdown or startup. >I am curious about anyone else's results with the User Profile Hive >Cleanup tool. I've had it installed here for quite some time. No problems at all. Tom -- remove .spoo to reply by email |