Win XP Pro Shutdown - HELP!

[Jake_Barnes]

Hey guys, I've got a problem that just started. Yesterday, I was shuting down, and XP went thru the routine - "logging off", "saving your settings" - then "windows is shutting down" screen froze. Had to shut down with power button. Rebooted, tried to shut down with keyboard - same thing, except this time I CTL+ALT+DEL about 10-15 times and it shut down. Today, I booted up, set a check disk - had to power off manually - rebooted and went thru a chk disk - nothing. Tried to shut down - same thing. Rebooted to safe mode to defrag - the drivers screen that normally shows for 10-15 secs. hung there for over 2 mins. Defragged, set another chk disk - rebooted, still froze at "windows is shutting down" screen - over 2 minutes - then shut down. Now, if I shut down, it hangs while I get a cup of coffee, then eventually shuts down/restarts. I rolled back to a good configuration (system restore - 3 days ago) - didn't help.

Don't think it's hardware - no hardware problems. I believe it's software/Win XP Pro related ...

Any advice - HELP.

Jake

<b><font color=red> “Liberals have many tails and chase them all.” – H.L. Mencken </font color=red><b>

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Just an added note. I disabled Virus and Firewall prgms - thinking they might be hanging up shutdown - but had no effect.

I also ran a virus scan (full)- spybot, adaware, etc.

Could a Trojan, not detected by all my defenses, be doing this ... ?


<b><font color=red> “Liberals have many tails and chase them all.” – H.L. Mencken </font color=red><b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Jake_Barnes on 10/30/03 11:27 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

I've developed the same problem in the past week or so. Except I have home, and my computer hangs before it gets to the Windows is shutting down screen. Like you, my first thought was my AV. So I disabled it. No change. I haven't installed anything new and I've tried disabling different things in startup control panel. I have a fairly new installation, about two months, and my computer has acted kind of funny ever since. This is the first thing that really bothers me though. I can't seem to find anything that applies to me on the web, or MSKB. I'm considering another fresh installation, if I don't find a solution soon.

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[Jake_Barnes]

Check your post - I posted this similar problem there. I've done what you've done - my install is <2 mos old. And yea, next week - it's a new HD, clean install, etc - I'm so sick of Microsoft ...

Hey sorry, that wasn't you - so that's three of us ... maybe the new M$ Critical Updates last week - I'll bet this problem shows up more ...



<b><font color=red> “Liberals have many tails and chase them all.” – H.L. Mencken </font color=red><b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Jake_Barnes on 10/30/03 07:26 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

The updates are the only thing that I've done. Hmm.....

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[OldBear]

I found <A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q307274" target="_new"><b>THIS</b></A> so far.

<font color=blue><b>I Harley here, I Harley there, this bear will Harley anywhere.</font color=blue>
<font color=red>I am the Harley Bear.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I read that M$ KBA - my problem is that shut down hangs for approx. 90 secs. now (I used a stop watch) on the 3rd screen, "windows is shutting down". It eventually shuts down - but after hanging for a total of over 2 minutes. My last critical downloads were on Oct 15-17th, and the problem started on the 29th. Damned if I know - but it's M$, I know it.



<b><font color=red> “Liberals have many tails and chase them all.” – H.L. Mencken </font color=red><b>

 

[4Ryan6]

Sometimes a recently added program, or unfortunately an update can cause it, or a piece of hardware beginning to fail, A recent CMOS change, or CMOS battery beginning to fail, theres so many reasons for our wonderful Windows to screw up, if its Windows itself, you can do a system repair, not a restore and solve the problem.

Do you know how to do a system repair?



<b><font color=purple>Listing your system specs, will greatly aid us, in being able to help you solve your problem.</font color=purple></b>

 

[4Ryan6]

Sometimes clearing the CMOS settings, applying setup defaults, resetting date and time, will clear it up, but if that works, replace the CMOS battery.

<b><font color=purple>Listing your system specs, will greatly aid us, in being able to help you solve your problem.</font color=purple></b>

 

[4Ryan6]

If your problems started after Daylight Savings time change, Replace the CMOS battery.

<b><font color=purple>Listing your system specs, will greatly aid us, in being able to help you solve your problem.</font color=purple></b>

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I'm not messing with 50-50 Repair Installs with XP (Crashmans estimate of success rate). I'd do a clean install 1st.


<b><font color=red> “Liberals have many tails and chase them all.” – H.L. Mencken </font color=red><b>

 

[4Ryan6]

I'm not messing with 50-50 Repair Installs with XP (Crashmans estimate of success rate). I'd do a clean install 1st.

Well thats your business, every WinXP repair I've done was successful, thats 100% success for me, I don't really care about Crashmans success rate, a Repair is really only necessary anyway, if you have information you can't loose, but I'm not the one with the problem here, you are, so do what you want. Bye!


{/**"\&?






<b><font color=purple>Listing your system specs, will greatly aid us, in being able to help you solve your problem.</font color=purple></b>

 

[Toejam31]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner ... I've been out of town for a few days.

Here's a good page to use when troubleshooting shutdown issues (for a start):

<A HREF="http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php" target="_new">WINDOWS XP SHUTDOWN & RESTART TROUBLESHOOTING</A>

I've also installed the latest critical updates from Windows Update on several machines, but without any unusual issues, so I'd tend to think that the problem lies elsewhere. However, some people are having problems after installing this update, but primarily with Win2K systems if SMB signing is enabled (which should be disabled by default, FYI), and systems that already have SP1 for WinXP previously installed:

<A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS02-070.asp" target="_new">Flaw in SMB Signing Could Enable Group Policy to be Modified (329170)</A>

I'd suggest checking the Event Viewer logs for errors, and look for items that are timing out when the Windows session tries to close. You might also check to see if the same thing occurs after booting the system in Safe Mode, and if the system shuts down normally, then you are probably looking at either a program causing the computer to hang, or a driver problem, or corrupted system files. You can also do a diagostic startup by using MSCONFIG, and see if the computer shuts down normally when in this mode.

I hope that you've thoroughly scanned for spyware, especially items that load as a service you don't recognize.

Remember, when loading a system restore point, not all files are replaced ... only Windows files, so a third-party program that is present can still be enabled, and cause problems of this nature. In addition, if the system has not been shut down correctly at some point (for whatever the reason), Windows can try to reload device drivers, and this can cause multiple ghosted devices to show up in the Device Manager, and this can cause IRQ conflicts that are not necessarily visible in the ordinary manner. Showing all hidden devices (so they can be removed) requires a registry change:

<b>Show/Conceal Hidden Devices in Device Manager</b>
[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment
Data Type: REG_SZ [String Value] // Value Name: DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES
Modify/Create the Value Name [DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES] according to the Value Data listed below.
Value Data: [1 = Show Devices / 0 = Hide Devices]
Exit Registry and Reboot

You might also add this registry edit, so that Windows works a little better when shutting down applications:

<b>Automatically Close Applications Not Responding at Shutdown</b>

<b>To Implement for All Users</b>
[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop
Data Type: REG_SZ [String Value] // Value Name: AutoEndTasks
Modify/Create the Value Name [AutoEndTasks] according to the Value Data listed below.
Value Data: [0 = AutoEndTasks Disabled / 1 = AutoEndTasks Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

<b>To Implement for Individual Users</b>
[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Data Type: REG_SZ [String Value] // Value Name: AutoEndTasks
Modify/Create the Value Name [AutoEndTasks] according to the Value Data listed below.
Value Data: [0 = AutoEndTasks Disabled / 1 = AutoEndTasks Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

Toey

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[Jake_Barnes]

Thanks Toey - I'll try the ideas you posted and get back. BTW, I have scanned for spyware (Spybot and Ad-Aware), Symantec and MaCafee Virus/Trojan scanns. I've checked msconfig for any unknown start-ups - nothing there. My windows updates are current - don't think it's that. I read the M$ KBA on shutdowns - and it didn't describe my problem - I hang at logging off, not "saving your settings".
Strange - It will shut down, but after about 90 secs.

I'll try safe mode shut down and diagnostic start-up/shut down ...

Will get back to you.

<b>Tried both the diagnostic start-up/shut down (no change) & safe mode shut down (hung completely - had to manually shut down).

I'm not skilled at Regedits - can navigate to registry key/directory you point to - but am unsure at "Data Type ..." after that.</b>






<b><font color=red> “Liberals have many tails and chase them all.” – H.L. Mencken </font color=red><b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Jake_Barnes on 11/01/03 07:45 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Toey - I may have found some solutions on the <A HREF="http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php" target="_new">Win XP Shutdown & Restart Troubleshooting Site </A>

SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW
If it appears that Win XP is not shutting down, give it some time. Some users report a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Generally, this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted. It also may have something to do with particular hardware. If you experience this problem, be sure to close all running programs before attempting shutdown and see if this solves your problem. If so, then you can determine, by trial and error, which program(s) are involved.


Newsgroup correspondent “Sarah.” provided one specific solution for this. In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services, stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box.) Many other newsgroup participants quickly confirmed that this solved this “extremely slow shutdown” problem for them (it’s the most successful solution for this problem to date). According to correspondent Gan Ming Teik, downloading and installing the new version 23.11 Nvidia driver also solves this problem.


Correspondent Graeme J.W. Smith reported a more obscure cause of slow shutdown: In Win XP Professional, the Group Policy Editor has a security option to clear the pagefile at system shutdown. The same setting also forces the hibernation file to be wiped at shutdown. These processes take long enough that users may think that shutdown has hung. To change the setting, click Start | Run, type GPEDIT.MSC, click OK. Drill down to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options. In the right pane, find “Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile.” NOTE: Since someone actually has to have set this policy, the problem will be pretty rare, but is worth mentioning. However, Forum participant “roadrunner” reported that the personal security app Privacy Eraser automatically enables “Clear virtual memory pagefile,” and, therefore, may be the cause of a slow shutdown.


MS-MVP Gary Thorn discovered that the Event Log can slow down Win XP shutdown. Disabling event logging removed the slowdown. If this works for you, then the real troubleshooting begins: finding out, by trial and error, what item that is being logged is causing the actual slowdown. (In Gary’s case, the Telephony service was causing the problem.) To disable the Event Log, launch the Services console as detailed in No. 2 above, and disable Event Log (right-click on Event Log, click Properties, under Startup Type select “Disabled”).

I disabled the Nvidia Driver Helper service - per "Sarah" in the text. Don't know what it is - but I disabled it, without any negative effect I can see.

I had enabled "clear pagefile on shutdown" some time ago - but I disabled it. The shut down problems didn't start when I originally enabled clear pg file on shut down.

I disabled "Event Logging" - seemed to help, but noticed that you're not suppose to disable it - so I reenabled it.

Now the machine shuts down in 10 secs at the "windows is shutting down" screen - totally acceptable (and probably about normal).

Question: In the Event Viewer|System Log - I have numerous (226 - from 7:02:47 to 7:28:30) "DCOM" errors in a row (every few seconds)-Event: 10005. Do you know what this 10005 DCOM error refers to? Looks like that could be a part of the problem - although, I'm happy with the tips from the 1st link you gave me (and I quoted in part here). They occured when I was rebooting a few times.

Thanks Toey, your a Prince.



<b><font color=red> “Liberals have many tails and chase them all.” – H.L. Mencken </font color=red><b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Jake_Barnes on 11/01/03 07:44 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Toejam31]

I regularly kill the nVidia Driver Helper Service, just because of previously encountered shutdown issues. The service is basically useless, from all I have read on the subject, and serves no real purpose needed by the end-user.

As for the DCOM errors, right-click on one of the errors and go to "Properties". This will allow you to discover exactly where the source of the problem lies, particularly if it is a service-related issue. You can also kill DCOM, as mentioned on this page:

<A HREF="http://www.updatexp.com/dcom-windows-xp.html" target="_new">What is DCOM in Windows XP?</A>

Or you can use the DCOMbobulator files created by Steve Gibson to achieve the same results, with less effort:

<A HREF="http://grc.com/default.htm" target="_new">DCOMbobulator</A>

For the Registry edits I mentioned in the previous post, to enter the Registry, go the Start\Run line and type in REGEDIT.

To create the first entry, for example, I would navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment. Once inside the Environment key, with it open in the left-hand window pane, I would click "Edit" on the toolbar, and choose New - String Value. This would appear in the right-hand pane, and I would type in the name of the new string as DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES, exactly as written, and hit Enter. Next, I would right-click on the new string, and choose "Modify" from the menu. This will bring up a new window with the Value Data listing, and I would place a "1" (without quotes) in this section as the value. Then I would exit the Registry, and reboot for the change to become functional.

That's all there is to it! Type carefully, but don't be scared. A good half of the things I do to tweak WinXP involve editing the Registry, and I couldn't really set up a machine correctly, or get a system tweaked unless I could change or add a few keys. ;-)

Toey

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