Windows is shuting down.........next day: "windows is shutting down"

[mikeymike]

The step-by-step solution:

1> Buy decent hardware

2> Use decent drivers

3> Set up Windows properly and minimally

4> Don't install crap

It's been years since I've seen any of my systems not shut down properly, so I simply won't believe anyone who says they do all of the above and still gets problems.

I've updated my install guides to include a basic dialup/DSL home machine setup with Win2k, an XP one will follow soon, though I don't particularly recommend XP.

[mikeymike]

The original poster wasn't talking about older PCs not being able to shut themselves down.  This is a hang on shutdown, so the PC never gets to the stage of switching off or saying "it is safe to".

[mikeymike]

Thanks for saying "decent" instead of "latest". For a good example of why, try a recent release of nVidia's Detonator drivers. Boy, have they ever screwed up big-time on the FX drivers. Almost everybody I know uses the older 45.23 WHQL drivers. The newest drivers are designed to boost performace to keep up with ATI, but only give me frequent BSOD's.

What card, out of interest?  I'm sticking with the 4x.xx drivers as I heard that the FX drivers aren't as good with GeForce 4 hardware.

[mikeymike]

Hmm... I run a GeForce 4, and have no problems with the 52.16 drivers, myself. I get 3dMarks comparable to systems quite a bit more powerful than mine. Actually, it's been many many months since I've had anything resembling an unstable WHQL driver from nVidia. Just goes to show, though, you never can tell. It's a lot of variables that go into making a modern Windows box. Some of it comes with skill and experience, and some of it comes with luck.

What's your system's spec, out of interest?  I might give them a try as well :-)

[mikeymike]

It's been years since I've seen any of my systems not shut down properly, so I simply won't believe anyone who says they do all of the above and still gets problems.

So just because it works on your pc, means it should work the same way on totally different hardware??
And also, this problem was a known bug with certain windows versions, like for example WindowsME..
This was a problem that was more common on faster systems..

Say hello to the concept of reading my entire post, instead of nitpicking a single sentence out of context :-)

[mikeymike]

The original poster wasn't talking about older PCs not being able to shut themselves down. This is a hang on shutdown, so the PC never gets to the stage of switching off or saying "it is safe to".

This problem was common with newer pcs, not older ones...

Which problem are you talking about, the first, on-topic comment or the later off-topic comment?

Either way...

The first problem can happen if a system is lacking in any of the four respects I described.  The second comment, describing a possible solution is only for older PCs.

PCs with ACPI enabled and properly working will be detected by Windows (98 and later) and will power off themselves when sent the shutdown command.  PCs without ACPI, the older variety, don't do this by default, the shutdown command doesn't make the right requests by default, so on NTx based systems, that "APM/NT Legacy Power Node" needs to be installed by the user.  Or the PC supplier may have done it for you.

[mikeymike]

Unfortunately it is sometimes impossible to avoid this. Remote desktop, ODBC data sources, microcrud vb.net framwork server & other rubbish like that, which is useful rubbish

No it isn't "impossible".  But it is irritating that they are installed needlessly, but that's the MS way of doing things, sadly.

Remote Desktop can be unconfigured so it won't be running all the time, although ODBC would take some significant work to remove (and unnecessary, I've never heard of ODBC drivers causing problems with system reliability).  ".NET" is just a marketing slogan that loads of things have been badged with for the last couple of years :-)  It means several different things, and virtually no theme on common across products.

[mikeymike]

Well i have seen problems even when using microsoft certfied drivers and hardware that is supposed to be decent..

Microsoft consider all of its wares to be "decent" :-)

But i guess your definition of good hardware=those who work flawlessly with windows

:-)  As with any tool, you have to be sure it fits the purpose you're going to be using it for.  It would be dumb to buy a high-end graphics card for use in *NIX when there is no support for its high-end'ness, for example :-)

If I'm buying new hardware, I do a lot of research first.  Technical hardware forums, google searches for issues with it, etc.  Even seemingly irrelevant issues (like say hardware<-> Linux issues) can be of use in my decision.