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  • May 1, 2008 at 7:22 am #2147883

    pc not shutting down properly

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    by djbazzsta · about 14 years, 10 months ago

    I have a Dual Core 1.8Ghz Pentium 4 running Windows XP. The machine restarts fine, but when I select Shut Down, it logs off as usual and switches the screen off, but the power light and harddrives etc remain on, almost like a sleep mode. Is there some setting that I have to change to get it to shut down? I have to hold the power button for 5 seconds everytime to get it to turn off properly.

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    • May 1, 2008 at 7:22 am #2566050

      Clarifications

      by djbazzsta · about 14 years, 10 months ago

      In reply to pc not shutting down properly

      Clarifications

    • May 1, 2008 at 7:35 am #2566043

      Check the Control Panel

      by selltekk · about 14 years, 10 months ago

      In reply to pc not shutting down properly

      Check the power settings in the control panel, there may be sometiing set in there that is messing with you.

      Or, are you on a network that has a group policy in place that stops you from shutting down completely?

    • May 1, 2008 at 7:59 am #2566034

      A couple of suggestions

      by nepenthe0 · about 14 years, 10 months ago

      In reply to pc not shutting down properly

      The following suggestions are transcribed verbatim from Preston Gralla’s book Windows XP Hacks (O’Reilly Media, 2005), p. 13

      Don’t have XP clear your paging file at shutdown. For security reasons, you can have XP clear your paging file (pagefile.sys) of its contents whenever you shut down. Your paging file is used to store temporary files and data, but when your system shuts down, information stays in the file. Some people prefer to have the paging file cleared at shutdown because sensitive information, such as unencrypted passwords, sometimes ends up in the file. However, clearing the paging file can slow shutdown times significantly, so if extreme security isn’t a high priority, you might not want to clear it. To shut down XP without clearing your paging file, run the Registry Editor and go to:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\
      Session Manager\Memory Management

      Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 0. Close the Registry and restart your computer. Whenever you turn off XP from now on, the paging file won’t be cleared, and you should be able to shut down more quickly.

      Turn off unnecessary services. Services take time to shut down, so the fewer you run, the faster you can shut down. See:

      http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tr/downloads/home/windows_xp_services_that_can_be_disabled.pdf

      posted on TR by Scott Lowe (June’05).

      Rick/Portland, OR

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