xp won't restart or shut down from shut down/reboot buttons

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John J Miller

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Mar 11, 2015
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I had a problem (my own doing, I should know better than to just delete stuff) anyway to fix what I messed up I started a new install of XP. everything seemed to be going okay. no yellow exclamation marks in device manager (after some driver hiccups).
started reinstalling original programs, again going well. started doing updates from Microsoft. First batch went well, everything worked. second batch, install went correctly. came time to restart....no joy wouldn't even shut down. got fed up and hit the reset switch. started on 3rd batch, again install went well. once again no reboot or shut down. I dislike hitting the reset switch, it goes against my grain as a tech. this problem is beyond my sphere of knowledge. I hope someone can help. if info is needed to diagnose, let me know and I'll do my best to supply.
 
Solution
D
Don't use the switch to shut down if a program is hung. Use task manager to end task on the offending program. You might have to wait a minute or two while it tries stopping the offending program but it should eventually give you the option to either kill the process or allow it to shutdown on its own.
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Dee Kay

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Dec 22, 2014
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Don't use the switch to shut down if a program is hung. Use task manager to end task on the offending program. You might have to wait a minute or two while it tries stopping the offending program but it should eventually give you the option to either kill the process or allow it to shutdown on its own.
 
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John J Miller

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Mar 11, 2015
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that's the issue. there's no programs running. Updates finish installing and I'm able to close out IE. the updates usually require the machine to reboot. it won't do it. I'm able to access the start menu to get to the turn off/restart buttons and they do show up on the desktop when they're called for. problem is, they don't function...either one.
 
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Dee Kay

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Dec 22, 2014
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Task manager also has the option to end task or log off the computer. Do either of those options work or show up? Depending upon the files changed or added, not all updates require immediate reboot anymore. Can you do anything else after the updates or are you frozen and left no option other than rebooting or turning off?

Have you tried going to safe mode after an update freeze to see if the update can finish with fewer drivers loaded? Have you checked for problems by running chkdsk /f and sfc /scannow to check your HDD and files for problems? Do you have the latest BIOS update? Have you ran memtest86 to check your ram? Rule out the easiest to check possible causes and go from there.
 
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John J Miller

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Mar 11, 2015
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you're not quite catching it. the computer does not freeze. I can run and shut down "any" program on the computer with no problems and there are "no" problems with the updates installing. they finish they're processes with "no" problems. the only problem is when the updates require a reboot. when an update finishes and requires a reboot there is a button on the screen that says reboot computer now. clicking on the button does absolutely nothing. and when I try to do a normal shutdown, I click start then the shutdown button and nothing happens same with the reboot button. nothing happens. ram tests good and yes bios is up to date. believe me this isn't my first rodeo.

When I was able to work, my last job was assistant national IT manager (5 yrs) and before that Senior tech/RMA (6 yrs) this is just something I've never encountered before. I have used every version of windows since ver 3.0 and never seen this behavior. but I had forgotten about the chkdsk switches. I will try them in the morning.

something to think about. when I messed up my original install, I tried doing a recovery from the xp cd. that didn't fair well. so I ended up doing a reinstall. but I didn't format the drive. I just wrote over what was there. do you think maybe I should start from scratch and format c: drive and do a clean install?

 
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