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Windows XP no longer shuts down fully

G

Gustavus

Golden Member
My main machine which runs Windows XP with SP2 developed a strange problem two days ago. When I click on Start/Turn Off Computer and then click on the Turn Off button, everything seems to go as usual. I get the Saving your Settings window and then the Windows is Shutting down as I always have. After a delay that seems to be the same length I remember from before this problem appeared, the monitor stops getting a video signal etc, but now the power on light stays on and the harddrive continues to spin. If I press the power button, the system appears to go through a normal bootup with the single beep etc. After the bootup, so far as I have been able to determine everything is OK. The problem is that power is staying on and the harddrive is spinning. I can only kill the power by unplugging the power cord. Now comes the strangest part of all. When I plug power back in the system automatically boots (and completes) the bootup process. I will make the usual disclaimer -- I don't think I did anything that precipitated the problem. At least I can't recall any change that coincided with the problem appearing.
 
Thanks robisbell, but S3 is not the state I am used to or wish to get to. I believe the nomenclature for the state I want is G2. S3 would stop the harddrive from spinning, but it is a form of hibernation with RAM still powered and holding status information in volatile memory. Every machine I have actually goes dormant -- except for system clock etc. from the battery affter Start/Turn Of Computer/Turn Off. Unplugging the power cord to work inside the case has no effect at all on these machines. In other words all of my machines require a boot from harddisk after power on initiated by pressing the power button on the front of the case. This one boots automatically if the power cord has been unplugged on replugging it in.
 
I did go into the BIOS and set it to S3 instead of the default S1. Makes no difference -- the power stays on anyway.

I have found one unusual thing about this machine compared to the others which may or may not be related to the problem I am seeing.

If I go into Control Panel and click on Power Options, on this machine only

Portable/Laptop

shows in the Power Schemes menu' The other machines all show

Home/Office Desk
Portable/Laptop
Presentation
Always On
Minimal Power Management
Max. Battery

under Power Schemes. This machine is a desktop -- not a laptop or portable. I have no idea of why that is the only power scheme shown and don't know whether it is related to the problem that first appeared on this machine a couple of days ago.
 
then you may have installed XP using the laptop/portable option, and henceforth that is why the power options and settings are only showing up for that.
 
robisbell
Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I built this machine several years ago and installed Windows XP on it just as I have on my other machines. Unfortunately I had not looked at the Power Schemes menu on it until I began troubleshooting the current problem so can't say whether the Portable/Laptop single entry is new or not. What I do know is that up until two days ago the usual turnoff sequence -- Start/Turn Off Compute/Turnoff led to a complete powerdown of the machine.

Si or S3, I cannot get a complete powerdown now. The motherboard is an ABIT board which I am very familiar with so I don't think there is anything I can do in the BIOS. I have gone over the power management section of the BIOS carefully -- comparing settings on this machine with other machines in the lab that are behaving normally -- without finding any apparent difference.

Maybe I will find something more tomorrow. Not hopeful, but will continue searching on net and trying.
 
Either your motherboard or your power supply has developed a hardware failure, pertaining to shutting down the PC. To find out which, swap in a PSU from a machine that is shutting down normally. If it continues to happen, it's the motherboard, and if it stops happening, it's the power supply.

BTW, your settings in the BIOS and Windows Power Schemes (the desktop or laptop option) have no effect whatsoever on whether your system will shut down completely or not.
 
myocardia and AsusGuy

You were right. It was the power supply. Sorry to be slow in getting back to thank you, but it turned out that replacing the power supply was a major problem. The motherboard is an ABIT TH7II which requires a six pin inline auxillary pwer connector which modern supplies do not have. I had four spare power supplies in the lab and none of them had the auxillary connector on them, nor did the supplies on any of my other machines. It took me some time to find a ThermalTake 420 watt with the necessary connector. It works perfectly -- turning off just as it is supposed to. Thanks again for the help.
 
robisbell,
I am not sure of the age of this system, but it must be almost a decade old. It has a Pentium 4 1.8 GHz overclocked to 2.4 GHz and has been my access computer for the internet for all these many years. On for an average of 16 hours each day I would guess. Never had to reformat or anything. Rock solid performer. The auxpwr plug brings in 3.3v and 5v and is essential for the TH7II to function. I did check on net to verify that. As I said I had four supplies in the lab but they were all too new to have the auxpwr connector.

I was going to up the RDRAM to a GB but that stuff is expensive! My wife's Dell also uses RDRAM so guess if this machine ever dies she will get all four slots in her machine populated.
 
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