XP won't shut down

[sandpaper600]

I had a hard drive crash, so I installed my OS on another drive I was running (250G Maxtor, SATA). I used "Tweak XP" to put a shutdown and a restart shortcut on my desktop. So now, when I try to shut down my computer, either using this shortcut or by using the "Start, Turn Off Computer, Shutdown", my system just restarts. The restart command work fine, doing it either way. The target line for the desktop shortcut is

"C:\Program Files\Tweak-XP Pro 3\command.exe" -shutdown

I'm including a HJT log, just in case.

Thanks in advance...
Mark

[TurcoLoco]

Sounds like some sort of corruption with the APM/ACPI or something along those lines.
How long ago did this problem start? More importantly, what was the last changes you have done on the system (manually or using a program) that might have caused this?

What happens if you do this:
START > RUN > cmd > OK (type) shutdown -s -f -t 00 > ENTER

[sandpaper600]

I noticed this problem right after I did the fresh install of XP on my SATA hard drive. I'm not sure if it was doing it before I used Tweak XP or not, because I installed it & put on the shortcuts before I ever tried to shut down for the first time.

I've never fooled with the power management settings for over 2 years. It's been the same. For 2 or 3 days before the crash I was making signs & typing guidelines for a Motel. I made these using Word 2000. I didn't access the internet or download or install anything new.

One night, everything was fine, the next day I try to start up & found the hard drive had crashed. When I booted to my other HD & looked at the files on my old "C", there were only about 10 files on it, all named by small letters, like b, d, or m. The size of the files are anywhere from 5300kb to 555,700kb, totaling about 5 or 6 gig. The file types are all "file". I can't manipulate them in any way, not even delete them. My old "C" drive was 80gb PATA, (about 80% used), which I ran as a slave to "her" 40gb.

Just for the Hell of it, I reformatted the drive & reinstalled XP on it. That night it seemed to work OK. But the next morning it wouldn't boot again, so I installed XP on the 250 & just unhooked the 80.

When I run the command line you gave me, the system shuts down to a black monitor screen, but the tower never shuts off. Since I've been having these problems, I have the power button set to shut down when I press it, & that is what I have to do to get it to turn off.

Here is some other info that may or may not have anything to do with anything. I have 3 hard drives in one tower. Up until I had the crash, my wife booted up one on one (40gb), I booted off another (80gb), and we both used the 250 for storage. We've been using this method for the past 4 or so years. This is the 2nd computer I've assembled to do this with, & up until the other day we had no problems. We go into the setup screen and change the first boot drive to the appropriate one and go.

When I had to put my OS on the 250 (after the crash), I noticed that sometimes when I was going to change which drive to boot to, the 250 wasn't listed, just "her" drive and another entry called "other bootable cards". If I chose this, it would boot to my HD. Sometimes I would look at the boot drives and it would list her drive, my drive AND the "other bootable cards" entry.

One other thing, when I was booted up on the 250 ("my drive") and ran the command line you gave me, I said it shut down to black screen, but never turned off. Well, I pushed the power button to turn it off and when I restarted it, it booted to "her" HD. I restarted again and went into setup, selected "my" HD (it was listed), and started up fine.

This is the first time I've had any issues like this and I'm at a loss as to it's cause. (Obviously, cause I'm here!) I am on cable internet, but have my firewall turned on and I have a firewall on a Belkin router. I'm using AVG antivirus. The 80gb drive was about 3 yrs old, the 40gb is about 4 yrs old and the 250gb is less than 1 yr old. All 3 are Maxtor.

Sorry to be so windy, but I'm trying to give you anything I can to help.
Mark

[TurcoLoco]

Hello Mark,

Sorry for the delayed reply but I got a lot going on in my life, not to sound like a drama king but that is really the case...anyhow.

After reading your long post and trying to make sense of it all, I decided that it'd be better to permanently leave this forum, sell my earthly belongings and relocate to Tibet to become a monk.....lol....kidding (kinda)....

Ok, seriously though, first of, the most common cause of the problem you just describe (regardless of how what proper method you use) is either a corrupt file in Windows or an incorrect Power (APM) related settings in BIOS.

When you initiate the shutdown process in Windows, the Operating System goes through its preconfigured instruction sets to close applications, shutdown services, etc. the final command sent utilizes the kill power feature of the BIOS, which causes BIOS to power off via the PW/PW_ON cable that is connected from the front of the case to the motherboard (this is commonly the cause with ATX cases of course).

In a rough way the above is the process, what could be the culprit? The Os file(s) that handles that power off commands (corrupted) or power related settings either in Windows or in the BIOS in related to Power options.

What you need to figure out (you might have already answered this in your last post but I might have missed it):
~ What was changed in this system prior to this issue?

~ Changed Hard Drive? Is the new Hard Drive a higher capacity than the previous one? If so, is it supported by BIOS and/or the OS (more importantly BIOS)? IF not certian, have I checked the mobo manufacturer's we site to see if there is a newer BIOS version? (If yes, read the version details to see what got fixed, if nothing about supported HD is listed, read general product spec sheet)

~ Re-installed OS fresh or using what was already installed possibly in another system?

~ Did I work in the case? If yes, could I have possibly unplugged or loosened up any of the cable connecting from the case power switch to motherboard?

~ Did I feel brave and messed around with the BIOS settings? If so, have I tried resetting the settings?

Remember, each motherboard has a different reference for SATA drives. Mobos often sees SATA drives just like SCSI drives, in plain English, they do not detect them! Only IDE Hard Drives and CD/DVD-ROM drives that has the ATA-33 connection will be detected in BIOS. So, your SATA drive may not be detected, as long as the OS sees it once the the SATA drivers are installed during OS installation, things should work fine when booting or shutting down the system.
I am not 100% clear on how you have the drives connected. I believe you have 2 PCs, but not sure which PC is having the problem, regardless which drives do you have connected in the troubled PC? and which one is the boot drive?
OR
Are you and your wife sharing the same PC and just switching between hard drives in the same PC by changing the BIOS settings (which is really an odd way and can't say a proper way either)?

But to start you off with common, simple things to check for: on the troubled system START > RUN > powercfg.cpl > OK > check to make sure all settings are correct.
Then during reboot, go into BIOS settings and check the settings on the Power Configuration section.

[sandpaper600]

I just got started checking some of the things you suggested and I came across this item in system info. The file system on the drive that is giving me trouble is NTFS, not FAT 32. Is that a problem?

[TurcoLoco]

I just got started checking some of the things you suggested and I came across this item in system info. The file system on the drive that is giving me trouble is NTFS, not FAT 32. Is that a problem?

Completely irrelevant unless the FAT 32 partition is larger than 32GB then (even though still unlikely) might have been...but I suggest you check other possibilities first.

[sandpaper600]

From some of your questions I can tell I may not have made everything as clear as I could have....So in those interests....
My wife and I each had a computer. A few years ago we decided to live full time in our motorhome & travel. We only have room for one tower in our living quarters. Not wanting to give up the way we each used our computers, I decided to put both hard drives in one tower, one as master, one as slave. We run a DVD drive and a CD burner in the tower as well.

Like I said before, we went into the setup menu and changed the order of the boot devices to start the computer as though it were our own. All our settings and programs. I know this can be done by using log off/log on, but when we started we already had 2 separate computers we wanted to integrate without starting over.

This arrangement worked well for us. Then, in order to step up to a PCI Express video card, as well as a bigger processor, we rebuilt using this MB;

http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails...890-M7%20PCI-E

When I saw that it supported SATA, I decided to get a 250gb HD to go on it, as our other drives were getting full. I called the company and they told me the MB would support a 250gb SATA drive.

After assembling all the bits & pieces, we had no troubles for about 9 months, until the "crash". Which, BTW, I'm curious to hear your thoughts about. Is it common to have a crash in the manner in which I described, (the file names, reformatting & then it works for a short time, etc.)?

I'm curious about what you said about MB's...
"Mobos often sees SATA drives just like SCSI drives, in plain English, they do not detect them! Only IDE Hard Drives and CD/DVD-ROM drives that has the ATA-33 connection will be detected in BIOS."
I find it strange that when I am selecting the boot drive order, sometimes the SATA drive is listed & sometimes it isn't. And why, when it isn't listed, would I be able to boot to this drive by choosing "other bootable add-in cards"?

After the "crash", I started having the troubles about the shutting down. I know this isn't hardware related, because when I boot using the PATA drive, everything works normally. It shuts down normally and restarts just like it always has. I have also went into the BIOS and chose "Reset To Default Settings" and "Use Optimal Settings" choices, but no difference. I hadn't changed any BIOS settings between the time it was working fine & the time it wouldn't shut down.

The OS install was a clean install, as this drive has never had an OS on it. Also, I disconnected the other HD's when I installed the OS on the 250. I used an XP upgrade disc & just showed it my 98 disc when prompted. I went to the MB web site and did find a newer RAID SATA driver file. I downloaded it but haven't installed it yet. I was wanting your input. Do you think this is worth doing, or are you leaning towards a corrupt Windows file? (I am attaching the readme from the download in Word format).

When I look at the power management settings, everything looks like I usually have it set. I have "Turn off monitor" set to 20 minutes, and "Turn off hard discs" set to never. Like I mentioned before, I reset the setting "When I press the power button..." to shutdown, because it's the only way I can get it to turn off.

I was browsing in system info some more & I came across this under the "Problem Devices" category...
"System Interrupt Controller PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_5327&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\3&241 1E6FE&0&05 The drivers for this device are not installed.

If any of this helps, then I'll chalk it up to my brilliant stumbling...if not, then it's my wifes fault! ;-)

[TurcoLoco]

Again, I might have missed or got confused but that doesn't mean your explanation was bad. I always liked to make sure I understand the problem or the situation before starting to throw ideas....so no worires.

Anyhow, besides your unorthodox boot method, I have to lean towards bad HD if it was the also the new 250GB SATA that crashed before.
The problem you described is not normal nor have I ever experienced it myself but seen somewhat alike outcomes when the OS got dumped due to hardware (HD) issue. So, I don't think it is fair to dismiss that this is a hardware issue, in fact, I think that is the likely cause; bad HD. Check your cables inside the case after unplugging the power cord. SATA cables seem kinda flimsy to me, not as stable as IDE ribbon cables, even the power cable, a loose connection of either could cause serious issues.
If it is still under warranty, of course send it back. Seagate bought Maxtor so they may only honor replacements for a year but often they will go with what maxtor was offering at the time which is generally 3 years.

What I suggest is you download Maxtor's free HD diagnostic utilities and run an extensive Read/Write test on this 250GB SATA drive. Depeding on your mobo/bios, it might see a SATA drive or more than likely just the controller and only the capacity reported by the controller. As long as the SATA/RAID controllers are not disabled in the BIOS, it will see the drive but not the way it would see an IDE drive. Anyhow run the diagnostics on this drive to make sure it doesn't have any issues. The tool also should help spot bad sectors.
Even brand new HDs may have 1-3 bad sectors on it and that is why I always recommend people that PRIOR to installing the OS, running extensive drive diagnostic utilities provided by its vendor free of charge.
The way your previous OS crashed hints that it was likely due to either a fault on the drive (excessive bad sectors forming up also is a sign of dieing drive) or because of some connection/conflict between that drive and not certan what (possibly mobo/BIOS).

On the Software Side:
BIOS update should not be bad but not sure if it will resolve this particular problem or not, still, I would normally do the update. I recommend extracting the folder directly on the root of C unless the vendor instructs otherwise.

Things you can try on the system having shutdown problem is to check and see if a sound scheme was selected, if so, select the blank line to see if it helps.


Other and imo, somewhat common cause these days is a background process/services causing the shutdown complications, check background process via Task Manager and kill all that you recognize whether it is your chat utility or anti-virus scanner, see the attached screenshot which shows what processes you are not going to mess with.

[sandpaper600]

Well, after wading through a ton of junk, I *finally* found the culprit...a mouse driver. I have a new Logictech optical cordless mouse and I downloaded the driver for it, "setpoint 400", from the Logictech website. I failed to remove the old driver for the cordless "other brand" mouse before I put this one on & it must have caused a conflict. I went to MY COMPUTER - PROPERTIES - ADVANCED - STARTUP & RECOVERY - & unticked the "restart" box. When it would crash I got an error message instead of a restart & was able to track that down to the mouse driver.

Thanks so much for your time and effort TurcoLoco, I'm sure this won't be the last time I solicit help from this forum. I tell everyone who asks me about their rig problems that this is the best bet for fast & accurate advice!!

Thanx again!!