Computer doesn't shut off

[Don]

The terms "vcpclose: about to end" and "vcpterminate: about to terminate" should be followed by "COMPLETE"

Because they're not, that gives us somewhat of a clue as to where it's hanging up.

Need to know what the title of the section is. It'll be in brackets ( "[" and "]" ); look something like:

[Reinstall]

In fact, if you could cut and paste the entire last section, it would help.

Also, if you can open up the Bootlog file, you should see a whole bunch of statements preceeded by a number in brackets. Please scroll towards the bottom, and cut and paste the last five lines that are preceeded by bracketed numbers, as well as the final lines after that.

i.e., the following:

[00079E4C] Enumerated Microsoft Kernel Audio Mixer (SW\{B7EAFDC0-A680-11D0-96D8-00AA0051E51D}\{9B365890-165F-11D0-A195-0020AFD156E4})
Terminate = User
Terminate = Query Drivers
EndTerminate = Query Drivers
Terminate = Unload Network
EndTerminate = Unload Network
Terminate = Reset Display
EndTerminate = Reset Display
EndTerminate = User

I'm not an expert by any means, Barnabas, but these should give us something of a clue as to what's causing your system to hang.

Clint was on the right trail: Playing with msconfig is one way to try to deal with this.

Perhaps going through your "Add/Delete Programs" and uninstalling any and all unnecessary programs would be helpful, too.

 

[LindaB]

Hi Barnabas
Ive used windows from version 3.1 way back in the day and so far this is my favorite version. ME was horrible,
but for my use, its great and there are so many free plugins to make it work even better.I especially love the memory management tool, click and Im all set..which is great for those of us who live on this thing
Linda

 

[Janetta Hampton]

I have had the same problem. It doesn't always freeze up though. When it doesn't freeze I found that if I go through the stand by mode there is another thing to shut it down there. The computer will shut down then but before it does a message pops up that says other users are logged on and if I shut down they may lose some data. I know next to nothing about how these things work so my question is: Is it possible someone else is using my computer? Or is it just a program that is running. I have also used the ctrl/alt/del and closed everything running so I don't think it is the latter. Has anyone ever gotten a message like that before?

 

[Clint Kritzer]

Hi Janetta -

Do you share your computer with other members of your family that have their own user ID's? Or do you have other computers tied into your machine within your home? Also, do you close your internet connection before shutting down?

My first suspicion since you are using control + alt + delete to close programs (which should work) is that the drivers for your network card may be corrupted.

Just a guess, I have never had that particular message.

You can try a quick fix of those drivers in this manner:

Go to the "My Computer" icon on your desktop

Right click and go to "properties"

Click the tab that says "Device Manager". At this point look for any items that may have an exclamation point in a yellow circle. This shows a conflict within your system.

go to the item called "Network adapters" and click the "+" sign.

When the adapters all show look for the little yellow exclamation point on any of them. If there is one, click that item and then click the button at the bottom marked properties.

On the new window click the tab marked "drivers"

Click the button that says "update drivers" and follow the prompts. At some point the machine may tell you that you are already using the best driver for your device. This is often a blatant lie. You can proceed anyway. Your machine MAY call for your Windows CD so make sure you have it handy.

This procedure works on Windows 95 & 98(SE). ME and XP may be different. That's because XP is from the dark side. Ask Linda.

One other question, have you ever tried clicking the "shut down" button on the cotrol-alt-delete window with the same results?

[ October 10, 2002, 07:55 AM: Message edited by: Clint Kritzer ]

 

[ForYourGlory]

I just want to say a BIG thank you for this post. I have been having trouble shutting down my computer for months. Thanks to Clints advice on "having too many programs running on start up" I went in and did some checking and disabled some unwanted programs. My computer is now shutting down just fine. Thanks again!
FYG

 

[Iakobos]

In response to Janetta's question about that error message, there is a reason Clint's never seen it. It's an XP message.

I've gotten this message when my wife stays logged into the computer and just walks away. XP automatically kicks it back to the main log in screen after a while (with my wife still logged in), and then I log in. When I go to log out, it tells me there's still someone logged in.

I believe the reason this feature exists is so you can easily switch between users on an XP box without having to go through the Windows startup every time.

So...if you're not connected to the Internet in any way, Janetta, you don't have to worry about someone evil being in your PC. One way to see who's logged in is to right click on the taskbar, select Task Manager, and make sure the "Show Processes From All Users" (or something like that) is checked. Then you can see, by user ID, who's logged into the PC.

Hope this helps, Janetta.

 

[Son of Consolation]

Boy, I tried everything. Nothing seems to work. But in the process I messed up my computer so much that it took me the better part of the day today just to make it work - never mind shutting down. I am using the "Restart" option at the present, and when the computer least expects it - I am shutting it down!!!!!

So when I reopen it, the program starts like it never was shut down in the first place - just restarts.

[ October 10, 2002, 08:20 PM: Message edited by: Barnabas ]

 

[Sherrie]

Barnabas,

you might be better off in starting all over and just re-installing everything.

Also:

I am installing xp this weekend. So what is wrong with it? I heard everyone say it was good.

I am also putting more memory( Kingston 256 MB), CD-rewrite (Philips 40x12x48), plus some fun programs on.

Yes its true...you can not turn me loose in Best Buy.

Sherrie

[ October 11, 2002, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: Sherrie ]

 

[Son of Consolation]

Just ran Norton systems checkup and found 464 errors. It corrected most, but the widnows still wouldn't shut down properly, so back to the drawing board!

 

[Clint Kritzer]

Brother Barnabas -

If you were a REAL redneck, you'd call it "fixed" at this point but you may still post the info for which Don asked. It sounds like he was on to something in that he correctly predicted an anomoly in the bootlog. Margie and I were commenting today what an informative thread this is and we are going to print it once everyone has their problems corrected for future use.
Don's posts are delving into a realm in which I was totally unfamiliar.

ForYourGlory -

I'm glad that the msconfig tip helped. I have often ranted in this house about how unfair it is that Microsoft will supply you a product and not give you all the instructions to run it. I picked up on the msconfig thing from my brother just as I learned the bootlog.txt thing from Don. It's infuriating to me that one has to rely on hersay and word of mouth to fix a machine, like there's some kind of secret knowledge that is required and every now and then Microsoft throws us a bone.

See? I rant!

Sister Sherrie -

In case you never noticed, Linda and I like to yank each other's chains pretty often. I tried XP on a new machine once and was completely dis-satisfied with it. XP is one of those things that some swear by and some swear at. It may work well for you.
However, notice from Iakobos' post that XP has caused him, a good man whom I know personally, to turn the blame for his computer problems on his poor, meek and kind wife whom I have known all my life (and who even babysits Forrest 3-4 times a week).

Iakobos: I've gotten this message when my wife stays logged into the computer and just walks away.

See? It somehow reminds me of Adam making excuses about the fruit!
What could possibly cause a good man to do such a thing? I think it's just more evidence that XP is from the dark side.

Of course, after this commentary, James is now going to sit behind me this Sunday and repeatedly bop me in the back of the head all through the service.

You can read some more comments on the XP OS, as well as others, here: http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=45;t=000043

 

[Sherrie]

Barnabas writes:

Just ran Norton systems checkup and found 464 errors

Oh my! How in the world did you have that many errors. I have Norton SystemWorks too. If this is what you have, did you do One Button Check UP? If so, go back, and go into Utillities. Then click on find and fix problems. Click on windows. then after you do that click on the Find problems on your disk one. If you did these two things....also do One Button Check Up.

Also go into your properties and disable your stand by. I bet that is causing your problem. I bet stand by is sticking.

Sherrie

right click on your screen anywhere....when command comes up...left click on properties....click on settings....and from there you can disable stand by or hibernate.

[ October 11, 2002, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Sherrie ]

 

[Son of Consolation]

Sherrie, the 464 errors were corrected by the Norton Antivirus system and it also recommended to create the backup files. It took 9 floppies to do that.

Now, I checked out your instructions, but the "Settings" did not have anything you describe (I have Windows 98 Second Edition). All I have there is "Colors" and "Screen area."

Right now I am duping the computer in believing that I am "Restarting," but when the windows shuts down I turn off the power. Then in the morning when I turn the power back, the computer doesn't know it better and goes into the regular cycle of "Restart," without cheking the "C" drive or hanging up.

[ October 11, 2002, 04:29 PM: Message edited by: Barnabas ]

 

[Clint Kritzer]

As I told you in private, Brother Barnabas, it sounds like you are headed into a crash. You may confuse the computer for a little while but I fear that once the screen goes black (blue isn't as bad) your data may be lost forever. Imagine - all that fan mail up in smoke!

We have a CD-RW, well worth the costs! I can back up this entire hard drive on 4 discs. You can even save your internet favorites list with it.

One other question: do you regularly defrag your hard drive?

If not, try going to

Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools

Click "Disk Defragmenter" and follow whatever prompts may be there.

If you have never done this it may take a matter of hours to complete (you could do it while you sleep) but it may correct the problem for you. Even if it doesn't it won't hurt anything as it is considered regular system maintainence.

You may also try installing Windows over itself. This will often correct bad or corrupted files and, with the right option selections, will retain the data in your C drive. I have had success with this even after a crash occured but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

 

[Sherrie]

Barnabas,

I had this problem once a long time ago and it was because stand by kept coming on. Once I disabled it I have never had the problem since. I have Windows ME. I am installing XP (I already purchased it Clint) tomorrow night.

98 isn't much different from 2000ME.

Go to control panel
Click on Display
Then Screensavers
Then a sentence says Energy saving feature of monitor:
To adjust the power setting for your monitor click Settings.

That is where you disable Hibernate. I don't know where you go to decide for your standby on 98. Do you know where its at? Go there and disable it.

Sherrie

[ October 11, 2002, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: Sherrie ]

 

[Sherrie]

Oh yeah Clint....Barnabas you can defrag. in Noton Systemworks 2001, and 2002. Also, Have you Optimized lately?

Sherrie

 

[Clint Kritzer]

The automatic standby feature in Win98 can be accessed by goint to

Start > Settings > Control Panel

Click "Power Management"

You will see the appropriate drop down boxes there.

Sherrie, please give us your review of XP after you have messed with it for a week or so.

 

[Sherrie]

Clint

My son has it and is well pleased with it. I will let you know exactly how I feel about it. I am looking forward to it crashing less (no more). I am really hoping that a lot of the problems I have had with this ME will not be with the XP.

We live in rural community and wireless has just been introduced this week. I pay $19.95 for dial up. That is unlimited. limited is $14.95. Aol is long distance, Earthlink just got here about 1 year ago. It is no different than what I have. Anyways, Wireless is around $50.00 a month. Thats just a little more than what I want to pay. So My loading time is really a little slower than most. My son has some sort of wireless at college. He downloads in sec. what takes me 30 minutes to an hour. So with some new things added onto my computer I am hoping for a littlle better time on downloading and less crash.

My son is taking Computer Science in College and he is looking for another processor for my Computer. I want power. I sound like Tim The tool Man. Maybe in another year wireless price will go down. The Swbell is not in my area yet, or I could even go through my phone company. Prehistoric. That what I am. A cavewoman. This is the price you pay for not living in the big city.

Hey I got another Question. I will start a new thread with it.

Well anyways, I will let you know.

Sherrie

 

[Sherrie]

Barnabas
Have you tried to disable it yet? If so did that work?

Sherrie

 

[Baptist Believer]

Originally posted by Sherrie:
My son has it and is well pleased with it. I will let you know exactly how I feel about it. I am looking forward to it crashing less (no more). I am really hoping that a lot of the problems I have had with this ME will not be with the XP.

I have to use Windows 2000 at work (I'm a Mac OS X guy myself). Windows 2000 seems to be the most stable and useful Windows available. Everyone who is new to the company or gets a computer "upgrade" has received Windows XP and many of them are having problems. Most of the problems involve Office XP -- especially PowerPoint. PowerPoint is so bad that people in my department have to go looking for a Windows 2000 computer to prepare their presentations because PowerPoint XP constantly crashes when working with graphic images or movies. I've also had trouble with XP and the password system (I had a mandatory password change throughout the entire computer network at the office, but a local shared XP computer that is connected to our high-end scanner often doesn't accept my new password -- I have to type the password I stopped using3 months ago. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this behavior since it works sometimes and doesn't work at others.

I've also had trouble with XP crashing. Now some people wouldn't call it a crash because I don't get the blue screen of death and I can manually shut down offending programs and still select things with my mouse... the reason I call it a crash is that I can't launch new programs or use programs that are currently "running". I can leave it for 30 minutes and come back and still have the same problem.

In any case, if you feel like you just *have* to run a version of Windows, I suggest getting Windows 2000 if possible.

 

[Don]

Barnabas, were you able to find any of the info I asked for?

Also, just before you shut down, could you please do a CTRL-ALT-DEL and let us know what all programs are running? (I'm looking for things running in the background) Doesn't matter if you know what they are or not; I'd just like to see a list to see if I can identify anything that's currently running.

Clint, Linda -- here's a question. I believe Barnabas stated he's using Win98. Is there anything in Win98 that acts like the Task Manager you get with WinNT/W2K? It'd be nice to have a look at what all processes are running.

Barnabas, if you'd like, please feel free to private message me.

Bible Believer, your network administrator is probably using a "password enforcer" program, and probably has it set to the highest level (meaning, you MUST use an upper case, lower case, special character, and number in your password, and you MUST NOT use anything that could remotely be found in the dictionary. And that usually includes the English dictionary, Russian, Klingon, and a few other dictionaries).

As for the Air Force, we have strict instructions to stick with W2K right now; Windows XP is acceptable on new computers we buy, but no upgrades to XP on ones we already have.

And for those that are familiar and/or dealing with IIS -- don't use it. Period. Unless, of course, you don't mind dealing with the fact that it's completely unsecure.

[ October 12, 2002, 02:20 PM: Message edited by: Don ]