PC won't shut down (WinXP Home)

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bennos

New Member
I am running WinXP Home. Recently (about 4 weeks now) my PC keeps booting back up after shut down.

This is what has been happening: To shut down I do the following -
Start - Turn Off Computer - Turn Off.
As soon as it shuts down it boots right back up again instantly.

To shut down without it rebooting, I have to press and hold the power button (on the front of the case) until it turns off the PC. I do this while it is in the shutting down process

I don't know if it is a hardware or software problem. Any ideas? Could it be a virus causing this problem?

Any ideas on what I can do to fix this problem would be GREATLY appreciated?
 
Do you have the power on by mouse or any key option enabled in the bios? I get that often when shutting down either version of XP. I'll even find the system running after a good shutdown and being away for a period of time on some occasions. The other thing to check would be the power off when pressiong the power button in the power management section. Once you right click on the desktop open the screen saver tab and click the power options button at the bottom there or open the Control Panel>Power Options and set the items to "never". That includes the hard drives as well. Windows may be trying to go into hibernation rather then powering down.
 
PC eye said:
Do you have the power on by mouse or any key option enabled in the bios?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how to check this. How can I access the bios and check this?

PC eye said:
The other thing to check would be the power off when pressiong the power button in the power management section. Once you right click on the desktop open the screen saver tab and click the power options button at the bottom there or open the Control Panel>Power Options and set the items to "never". That includes the hard drives as well. Windows may be trying to go into hibernation rather then powering down.
Click to expand...
Checked this out and tried a few different scenarios but to no avail.

Could it be a hardare problem... like the power supply connections?
 
The power on by mouse or keyboard is found in the bios setup in the power options portion where you set that to user defined. Most boards will see those options available. For that you refer to the board's manual unless you like exploring inside the bios setup. You should see the DEL key as the one for entering the bios right when the first post screen appears. Some boards however will assign an F key instead.

If it is hardware related it would be more like the contacts stickng together inside the power button more then any problem with the supply. That would then see the contacts remaining closed constantly until you pressed the power again to hold it in. That would a thing to consider there if the button is on the way out due to wear.
 
PC eye said:
The power on by mouse or keyboard is found in the bios setup in the power options portion where you set that to user defined. Most boards will see those options available. For that you refer to the board's manual unless you like exploring inside the bios setup. You should see the DEL key as the one for entering the bios right when the first post screen appears. Some boards however will assign an F key instead.
Click to expand...
Had a look but I'm not confident enough to change anything here.
PC eye said:
If it is hardware related it would be more like the contacts stickng together inside the power button more then any problem with the supply. That would then see the contacts remaining closed constantly until you pressed the power again to hold it in. That would a thing to consider there if the button is on the way out due to wear.
Click to expand...
I'll check this out. Will let you know how I go. Thanks for the suggestions!
 
If it turned to be the power button itself that would be rare since you can still hold the button and see it shut off completely. That would mean the contacts are arcing from being almost but not completely closed where the smallest vibration would cause them to touch each other like seen when powering down.

The other item is how Windows itself shuts everything down by controlling the signal sent to the board. A software glitch? That would also be a problem in Windows itself not shutting down but simply restarting. The bios settings like "user defined" is what allows Windows to switch everything off. You may want to look in there to how that is set.
 
A bit of the topic but I'm trying everything and anything I can (which is not that much) to break down the problem.

I'm deleting/uninstalling unused programs to try clean things up a bit. I came across this program - Powerarchiver, it won't delete, just comes up with an error message.

I've attached a screenshot of it. If you don't mind, can you check out the message attachment and tell me if you have any ideas on what I can do to fix it so I can uninstall it.
 

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i THINK it means that the uninstaller for that program isnt there, so you ccould probablby remove it manually... c:/program files, and delete the folder containing the files. oh yes... on the wont shut down, my computer had a thing in the bios, an automaically start up time and stuff, check if your cmoputer has that
 
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