Windows98 does NOY shut down sometimes

[status1]

Hello,
I am using windows98 and I noticed that sometimes when I try to shut it down it doesn't It's just stays there at the screen that says "windows is shutting down" but it doesn't actually shut down so I have to hold the power button to shut it down then of course I have to wait for the scandisk to check for errors since I did not shut it down properly
I tried to put it in standby mode and while the screen went off the pc was still on I am not sure if this is normal since I have never used standby before
When I hit a key to come out of standby I got a message saying that it cannot go into standby because some driver is still active Of course it doesn't tell me which driver it is doing it.

Is there a way to find out what is running in the background that would keep windows from shutting down ?

Is there a command perhaps that I can use to force it to shut down ?

 

[Detaill]

You can download Sysinterals process explorer for free just type the name into your favorite seach. It shows every process runnig on your pc. or hit ctrl alt delete
keys at the same time when its trying to shutdown and the and the offending program display in the task manager. No ideas on the sleep issue.

 

[Detaill]

Excuse my typing on the last note , I was called away a couple times. I also had a shutdown problem on my 98 system with the same behavior sometimes with fatal errors and it was caused by a virus , once it was removed it ran good again.

 

[status1]

Hello,
Thank you for the reply
I downloaded the file you suggested but it doesn't seem to do anything
It's just another process that is added to the list but there is no window or message that pops up that tells me what is running in the background

I can hit ctrl alt del before I shut down and see if anything unusual is there and I don't see any other programs that were not there previously
The only thing I can think of is something in the background that doesn't show up on the list
Trying hit ctrl alt del when it's trying to shut down doesn't do anything because by that time it's stuck in the shut down mode and the only thing I can do is press and hold the power switch

 

[Detaill]

Try here if you haven't already http://support.microsoft/ph/1139 See startup&shutdown also since MS ended update for 98 in 2006 there may be sites that have updates and patches for 98 just be carefull.

 

[status1]

Thanks but I am not interested in any patches
The software program you mentioned would have been helpful if it would have worked
Do you know if that works on windows 98 or just xp ?

 

[Detaill]

Process Explorer is just to show all programs running on your computer and you can right click any process to find out what is on the web and it works on all windows OS . It doesn,t open any window at shutdown . your standby
is working properly, it keeps your computer on but the hard disc shuts down in standby mode. I suggested updates and service packs because shutdown was a known problem in win 98 and it may have been addressed in a service pack, It never hurts to be up to date and with 98 you have to get them while you can. Sorry I couldn't be more helpfull .
Good Journey

 

[status1]

Well that would have been nice if it was working

I appreciate the information
I went to their website and I see that they have other programs available
Maybe I can get one of those to work and find out what is causing it to hang

 

[status1]

Just a quick update
According to someone on the forum at sysinternals the Process Explorer is not made for windows 98 so I guess it's no surprise that it doesn't work
The other program I wanted to try is made for windows xp and it gives a warning before trying to run it unlike PE which gives no warning but it doesn't work either

 

[Detaill]

Hi status 1

you are correct the new version PE is for XP and higher I had an old version on my 98 computer.

 

[status1]

I got good news and bad news
The good news is that I found an older version of PE that works on windows 98 at
http://www.filehippo.com/download_process_explorer/tech/1613/
and I am able to see the hidden processes that are running in the background and just as I suspected it's related to open office

The bad news is that I can't kill the process that is related to open office and I am pretty sure that's why windows hangs when it tries to shut down

At least I know exactly what is causing it

 

[Detaill]

If you have Open Office set to quick launch remove it from your start up programs it uses alot of resources .
I looked up 98 system requirements and if your running OO with the java script package it is a larger than your operating system.

If your are looking for a band new OS with modest system requirments for free!! check out Linux Xubuntu and see if your hardware is compatible.
This would bring you up to a 2009 OS and it's updated every 6 mnts. requirements are as follows:

CPU: 500mhz 1.5 gb HDD space 192mb of ram Ethernet connection or PCI card ( $11.00) VGA interphase or card
Requires only 64mb of ram to run after install .

Good Journey

 

[status1]

I don't have it set for quick launch since I am not using it that often mainly on the weekends
Normally it's not a problem it's only when it crashes that this happens
It has a crash repair program that lunches after a crash and reopening of an open office file This is one of the files that cannot be removed with Process Explorer
The name of the file is CRASHREP.EXE

My system is fast enough for that I just don't feel the need to upgrade at this time just so I can run one program
I feel the problem is with open office and not necessarily with windows 98 It's just that windows 98 doesn't know how to deal with the crashes If open office wouldn't crash I would not have this problem.

Thanks for all your help

 

[Zoron]

Well it is a problem with 98... that's partly why 9x has been left behind. What version of Open Office are you using?

 

[status1]

Well it is a problem with 98... that's partly why 9x has been left behind. What version of Open Office are you using?

I am using version Open Office version 2.3

I believe it's a problem with open office because it's not made correctly for windows 98 or they haven't worked out all the bugs I have another pc that has windows xp with Open Office 3.0 and that is crashing also but at least on the xp it shuts down without freezing
I haven't seen many programs that have a crash recovery program built in
It's probably because it's crashing a lot

Just out of curiosity I was wondering what would happen if I would rename the crash recovery program
I know the program would not recover but would it still keep it from shutting down windows ?
I think I will try that over the weekend just to see what happens

 

[status1]

I found a workaround until a more permanent fix is found or until I upgrade to xp
On days that I am using open office the first thing I do before I shutdown is to check with PE if the soffice.bin file is still there after closing the program
If it is than I use restart instead of shutdown This method turns off windows without hanging
I know the shutdown and restart should work almost the same but for some reason the restart works slightly different as far as closing windows is concerned