HELP~ Computer wont turn off without switching it off

[plaidfro]

This computer has had this issue since I have known it.

Odd issue with this computer... click start>turn off computer>turn off... the computer then goes through the shut down process and finishes with a black page with text saying 'it is now safe to turn your computer off'... but if I push the power switch it shuts off until I release the power switch button, then the computer fires back up. So to shut the computer off I have to flip the switch on the back of the computer. Anything I can do to make it shut down automatically when I click to 'shut down'?

I am using:
WIN XP SP2
PIII 1GHz
256 MB ram

Another note that may be useful... This computer had this issue even before I put a completely different Hard Drive in with all new software, using the same OS

 

[natto fire]

Check in your BIOS and see if there is a setting for ACPI, if so, make sure it is enabled. Also, you can check in the hardware manager, under "system devices" in the list, there should be a listing for a couple ACPI devices, including Microsoft ACPI-compliant system, or similar. The other problem might be the PSU, it should definitely be ATX, but it might not be interpreting the signal from the motherboard correctly.

 

[plaidfro]

I haven't found a setting like that in the BIOS menu....

I did learn though, that at the final screen on shutdown when there is a microsoft logo and it says ' it is now safe to turn off your computer ' if I push the power button in and release it, the computer will reboot... BUT if I hold the power button in for 10 seconds the computer will shut everything down once I release the button. Any thoughts?

 

[skreet]

My guess is that Windows XP was installed without ACPI support, for one reason or another. A fun fact is that while installing XP if you press F7 when it asks "Press F6 to install third party drivers." it will not install ACPI support, without prompting or notifying the user... perhaps this happened during your installation of XP?

Best of luck!
-Kyle

 

[natto fire]

Huh, learn something new every day!

OP: I would look further into this, because it is obvious your computer has an ATX PSU (I figured that, considering my PIII 600 has one)
Here is a link I found, in which you can check if ACPI is enabled in your install of XP. (As well as checking through hardware manager, as listed above)

 

[KGB]

Originally posted by: plaidfro
I haven't found a setting like that in the BIOS menu....

I did learn though, that at the final screen on shutdown when there is a microsoft logo and it says ' it is now safe to turn off your computer ' if I push the power button in and release it, the computer will reboot... BUT if I hold the power button in for 10 seconds the computer will shut everything down once I release the button. Any thoughts?

Fro,

Go into Device Manager and select Show Hidden Devices.
You should see something like NT APM Legacy yada yada which is disabled.
Enable it and try shutting down.