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

[lempkee]

back when i was a admin for pc #### this was a very common question indeed.

what cauzed it? ..

modem's (card + install)
Virus Checkers (yep , they wont in all cases quit)
and last but not least windows Updates.

my advice, use AMIGA OS like me or use another Proper os, sure it has downsides (like u need atm  10+ year old HW and we dont have a decent browser, but seriously it makes up for all the crap in the x86 world)

[seer]

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".

AFAIK, the links I provided also give tips on solving those. Like waccoon said, there's plenty of info to be found on the Window Forums. Or search on groups.google.com, keywords "Windows hangs on shut down" or something similar.

[PMC]

Picture this:

It's Friday and I'm leaving the office and am running late.  I'm meeting the guys in the bar shortly and shut down my Windows 98 box and turn off the monitor without checking that it's shutting down.  

Monday morning guess what's on my screen....

[seer]

my advice, use AMIGA OS like me or use another Proper os, sure it has downsides (like u need atm 10+ year old HW and we dont have a decent browser, but seriously it makes up for all the crap in the x86 world)

I wonder how true this would be when Amiga OS / Morph OS starts supporting the same amounts as Hardware as Windows does out of the box.. (That includes all mobo's and their revisions and every bit of hardware people can think of.. This is not intended as a flame towards you, I really love to see both of these OSes supporting more hardware)

Sure Windows is crap lots of times, but it does have it good points.

[Waccoon]

It just occured to me...  I used to have a problem with Win2K taking forever to shut down, and I found it was because I had too many files (more than 2GB) on my desktop.  When I moved a few huge files to the D: drive, shutdown times improved enormously.

Still, I think this was a known problem, and was fixed in a critical update.  My desktop is my working folder, and I still have tons of files in folders on my desktop, but the shutdown times are normal, now.

2> Use decent drivers

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.

I think that was the first time I ever downgraded drivers to make my system stable.  Lots of people are complaining about it.

3> Set up Windows properly and minimally

It really annoys me that Microsoft removed MSConfig in Windows2000 (but put it back into WinXP).  I use AppPaths to keep Windows clean.

App Paths

Beware, the site uses page transitions, a feature no web browser should ever support.

4> Don't install crap

Hoo, you should have seen my Aunt's computer, which I fixed over the holiday season.  It had at least four spamware programs installed on it which continuously plastered the screen with pop-ups even when IE was not running.  Even worse, it was a Win98 system upgraded to Win2K, and ran off two hard drives, so it had files all over the place, and had only 50Megs free on the boot drive.  I wanted to re-install it, but only had an hour to work on it.  That was the most cluttered machine I'd ever seen.  I'm surprised it even boot!

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.

Oh, I've seen everything go wrong, even with top-flite hardware and meticulous care.  Some Windows machines just won't shut down.  Obviously, if you have a system that *consistently* takes forever to shut down, there's a problem.  But it's "normal" for a Windows system to lock up on shutdown once in a while.

Sure Windows is crap lots of times, but it does have it good points.

Thanks for saying what needs to be said.  I've always felt Microsoft does a good job supporting their products, even if they don't get it right the first time.

[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.

[bloodline]

seer wrote:
my advice, use AMIGA OS like me or use another Proper os, sure it has downsides (like u need atm 10+ year old HW and we dont have a decent browser, but seriously it makes up for all the crap in the x86 world)

I wonder how true this would be when Amiga OS / Morph OS starts supporting the same amounts as Hardware as Windows does out of the box.. (That includes all mobo's and their revisions and every bit of hardware people can think of.. This is not intended as a flame towards you, I really love to see both of these OSes supporting more hardware)

Sure Windows is crap lots of times, but it does have it good points.

While I really don't want to be seen supporting Windows in any way. I have to agree with you wholehartedly!!

No matter how much I hate windows and get annoyed at it's problems and perculiraties, I have nothing but respect for the fact that I can run it on any hardware I choose... and Linux is getting VERY close to that point too!!!

[Ilwrath]

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.

[Tomas]

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..

[Tomas]

you will find an option to in the advanced panel to correct the shutdown problem ("Disable Fast Shutdown" IIRC)

That is the one  :-)

[Tomas]

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...

[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 :-)

[sir_inferno]

Waccoon wrote:

I can tell you what it isn't, though.  I've found power management has nothing to do with it, so don't bother fooling around with your BIOS, like I did.  ;-)

Ummm, yes it does, and why are you touching your bios? if you install ATM when installing windows, it works fine until you start screwing with things.

Wacoon also wrote:

3> Set up Windows properly and minimally

It really annoys me that Microsoft removed MSConfig in Windows2000 (but put it back into WinXP). I use AppPaths to keep Windows clean.

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  :-)

[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.

[Tomas]

mikeymike wrote:

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 :-)

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

But i guess your definition of good hardware=those who work flawlessly with windows  ;-)
Take for example of my dads pc... It was horrible unstable under WindowsXP, never managed higher uptimes of more than max a week... A year or so ago i decided to install linux instead, and has since then not had any stability problems at all.. Same pc had a uptimes of over 80 days...

I am not saying that linux is better in all ways, but Windows do has is share of problems, so does linux in other aspects..