Lost Shut Down Menu

[tman70]

Dell Inspiron 530s

Windows XP 3

Firefox 3.01

IE 7

Threat Fire

BoClean

PC-cillin

This started a couple of days ago. When I first log on and the few startup programs load and the desktop appears, I can go to "start-turn off computer" and I get the menu with the 3 options.

After we use the computer a while and then try to shut down by going to "start-turn off computer" we get an hour glass and computer will not shut down. we have to do a hard shut down.

I have run all scans and everything comes back clean. I have run "scannow sfc" and it finished.

What should I be looking for to correct this problem?

Thanks

[sultan_emerr]

Instead of doing a hard shut down, give the pc the three finger salute,

and bring up the Task Manager, then click on "Shut down" at the very top,

ans then click on "Turn Off".

Tip: I always turn off router to disconnect from the internet just before turning pc off,

and then when turning PC back on, I wait until anti-virus/malware programs and firewall are all up and running before I turn router back on, and then I reconnect to the internet.

[tman70]

Instead of doing a hard shut down, give the pc the three finger salute,

and bring up the Task Manager, then click on "Shut down" at the very top,

ans then click on "Turn Off".

Tip: I always turn off router to disconnect from the internet just before turning pc off,

and then when turning PC back on, I wait until anti-virus/malware programs and firewall are all up and running before I turn router back on, and then I reconnect to the internet.

Thanks Sultan,

I had not thought of doing shut down with task manager. Never too old to learn and I did learn something new today.

That will work for a while until i can find out why they can't use the "Start-Turn off Computer" option. If I don't, her other family members will end up creating problems, I'm afraid.

Any suggestion on the start problem?

[sultan_emerr]

What was the last thing downloaded/installed/done before this problem started?

Maybe try a "system restore" to a day before this problem started.

[TheTerrorist_75]

With Task Manager open look to see what is using the most resources when the shutdown problem occurs. This may lead to the problem program.

[tman70]

What was the last thing downloaded/installed/done before this problem started?

Maybe try a "system restore" to a day before this problem started.

With Task Manager open look to see what is using the most resources when the shutdown problem occurs. This may lead to the problem program.

Thanks Guys,

The last thing I downloaded was MS updates last Tuesday(1 or 2 critical and 2 software). I did not notice anything different. My son and his family came back from vacation that Friday and two adults and two children took over the computer. My son was the last one and he said all he did was open an advertisement from an auto parts house where he buys parts.

He got up and I sat down and Firefox 3.01 crashed on me and I had to make a new profile and reinstall it to get it to work. After that was when I noticed it would not shut down every time you went to Start. I had erunt on here and tried several different restore points, but the restore made no difference.

I've just tried "shut down" from the Task Manager and it hung at "now shutting down" even though it was working a few minutes ago.

The only thing I see in task manager is things related to PC-cillin. Everything else looks normal.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Run Disk Clean and defrag. Also clear Firefox's cache.

[tman70]

Run Disk Clean and defrag. Also clear Firefox's cache.

I use JKDefrag and I always clear my personal data in firefox when I shut down. I also use ccleaner. Just a habit I do when I log off.

I did run Disk Clean and found a WebClient/Publisher that had not been cleaned. It is something she use's in her business. I think before I was not giving XP time to clear it's memory at shut down in the Task Manager. Trying to get G-Kids ready for school tomorrow(lol). Anyway it seems to shut down from Task Manager now the couple of times I tried it, but still won't from start.

[TheTerrorist_75]

The computer stops responding when you try to shut down or restart the computer

[tman70]

The computer stops responding when you try to shut down or restart the computer

I have check their programs and updated everything that I could, like flash player, java, and others.

Nothing in Device Manager has a yellow or an exclamation mark, so I guess everything is alright there. Just ran "sfc scannow" again, but it does not tell you if any files are bad or replaced. So I assume it is alright also.

I shut down all startup programs in the Start Up Control Panel, but could not really tell if that made any difference as the shut down problem only happens after we have been surfing a while.

They will have to use the Task Manager to shut down as I am leaving for home tomorrow and it will be some time before I can come back.

Thanks everyone for your help.

[Pete_C]

Dell Inspiron 530s

Windows XP 3

Firefox 3.01

IE 7

Threat Fire

BoClean

PC-cillin

This started a couple of days ago. When I first log on and the few startup programs load and the desktop appears, I can go to "start-turn off computer" and I get the menu with the 3 options.

After we use the computer a while and then try to shut down by going to "start-turn off computer" we get an hour glass and computer will not shut down. we have to do a hard shut down.

I have run all scans and everything comes back clean. I have run "scannow sfc" and it finished.

What should I be looking for to correct this problem?

Thanks

What antivirus do you have and do you have its automatic updater turned on?

This sounds like what happens with Mcafee Internet Security or Antivirus (although it could happen with any application with an automatic updater) when the updater checks for an update and is told to standby . It has set things in motion to receive the update and install it but for some reason (blocked by firewall, their server is busy or down, just dropped the connection...) it never gets it and is left standing by.

Try disabling the updater and manually killing your antivirus and see if you can shut down.

[garmanma]

A little more "in depth" than Task Manager is Process Explorer from http://technet.microsoft.com/

Edited August 28, 2008 by garmanma

[tman70]

Dell Inspiron 530s

Windows XP 3

Firefox 3.01

IE 7

Threat Fire

BoClean

PC-cillin

This started a couple of days ago. When I first log on and the few startup programs load and the desktop appears, I can go to "start-turn off computer" and I get the menu with the 3 options.

After we use the computer a while and then try to shut down by going to "start-turn off computer" we get an hour glass and computer will not shut down. we have to do a hard shut down.

I have run all scans and everything comes back clean. I have run "scannow sfc" and it finished.

What should I be looking for to correct this problem?

Thanks

What antivirus do you have and do you have its automatic updater turned on?

This sounds like what happens with Mcafee Internet Security or Antivirus (although it could happen with any application with an automatic updater) when the updater checks for an update and is told to standby . It has set things in motion to receive the update and install it but for some reason (blocked by firewall, their server is busy or down, just dropped the connection...) it never gets it and is left standing by.

Try disabling the updater and manually killing your antivirus and see if you can shut down.

A little more "in depth" than Task Manager is Process Explorer from http://technet.microsoft.com/

Hey everyone,

I just got back home. Already miss the Grand-kids.

Pete_C--- they use PC-cillin and I did not think to check their settings. I did disable it and booted the computer, however you have to go to several different web sites and stay on for a while to get the shut down option not to work. I did not want to spend to much time surfing without virus protection.

As I said before, I had downloaded MS updates and everything seemed fine until they all came back from vacation and got on the computer and that night Firefox3.01 crashed on me when I went to open it. Profile was corrupted and the only way I could change Web and Text size was to use Crtl +\- and that was when I noticed the "Start-Turn Off Computer" menu did not show and all I got was the hour glass indicating that something wasn't shutting down.

garmanma--I think I will let them stay with Task Manager for now to keep it simple.

Thanks for the URL. I'll look at it more in depth later.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Ah! It could be the corrupted Firefox that is the problem. I would save the profile to a folder then uninstall Firefox completely then reinstall it.

[tman70]

Ah! It could be the corrupted Firefox that is the problem. I would save the profile to a folder then uninstall Firefox completely then reinstall it.

I posted here "http://www.besttechie.net/forums/Browser-Web-Page-And-Fonts-To-Small-t14562.html" the problem I was having with Firefox after the crash.

I used FEBE extension and saved all bookmarks, passwords, Themes and Extensions in a separate folder and uninstalled Firefox completely including the profile and by doing a search and using CCleaner. I then reinstalled Firefox 3.01 and added everything back, but still had the web and text size problem in Firefox and the shut down problem.

I believe the firefox crash did something to create both problems,but I have not found anything yet. I thought it had corrected itself, but I was wrong.

[TheTerrorist_75]

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.0.1/releasenotes/

Check out troubleshooting. You may have an extension or theme that isn't playing nice with the newest release of Firefox.