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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
March 16,
2008
Q.
When I shut down the computer it goes
through the usual motions, but never
completely shuts off even if I wait a long
time. I am using Windows XP-SP2. I wait a
while then turn it off manually. Is there a
better way?
A.
Shutdown problems in Windows XP is not
uncommon and can be caused by many factors.
These include a damaged exit sound file,
incorrectly configured, damaged, or
incompatible hardware, conflicting programs,
or an incompatible, damaged, or conflicting
device driver.
One of
the major causes of this shutdown behavior
has been traced to older versions of a CD
burning program called Roxio or Adaptec.
Roxio bought out Adaptec so it could be
called either. The light version of this
software is supplied free with many CD
burners. Probably the worst offender
in this software is the part called "Direct
CD".
Direct CD
is a program that allows using a re-writable
CD (CD-RW) as a drive similar to the hard
drive. At the time CD-RWs were designed,
they were a good idea, but have since fallen
from favor by almost everyone. They require
formatting, something that can take hours to
complete, are expensive, slow and not always
reliable. For the most part, they have been
replaced with the USB EPROM, sometimes
called a "Thumb Drive" or external hard
drive.
Direct CD
starts up with Windows and runs in the
background. It is one of the most common
reasons XP doesn't shut down correctly.
Since it is doubtful that you are using this
CD-Re-Writable "feature?", it is easily
turned off, and the first thing I would try
to correct the shutdown problem. Turning
Direct CD off will not affect your ability
to burn a CD-R using the Roxio/Adaptec
program.
To turn
off Direct CD, click Start, Run, enter
msconfig and click OK. When the System
Configuration Utility opens, click the
Startup tab. Most of the names in the
'Startup Items' column will be very
nondescript and probably not tell you much.
Look in the 'Command' column for one that
has "Direct CD" in its name. You will
probably have to expand the column size to
the entire name in this column. When you
find the one with "Direct CD" in its name,
uncheck the box in front of the row. Click
OK, and then re-boot the computer. This
message will display when Windows restarts.
Don't let
this rather alarming message scare you.
Microsoft made it sound more intimidating
than it needed to be. It is just telling you
that you made a change to the System
Configuration Utility, something you already
know. Just check the box in front of "Don't
show this message........Windows starts" and
click OK so it won't display every time you
start Windows.
Now shut
down Windows and see if the problem has been
resolved. If not, then there are many other
things to try to allow proper shutdown, too
many to list here.
HERE is
a link to a site that covers this problem in
more detail. The explanation of all the
possibilities and their fixes will probably
be overwhelming to most, so if the Direct CD
thing doesn't fix your problem, possibly the
following would be the best advice for you
to follow.
When
Windows shuts down normally, many things are
done including writing data from the
volatile RAM memory to the hard drive,
something that should not be interrupted.
Once this has completed, turning off the
computer manually should not do anything
harmful. I would suggest trying to shut down
Windows normally by click Start, then
shutdown, and then wait until all apparent
hard drive action is finished. Watch the
hard drive activity light on the computer
until it stops blinking and is off. Then
turn the computer off manually, by either
holding in the start button for 6-8 seconds,
using the switch on the power supply if one
is supplied, turning off the power strip, or
just unplugging it. |
