Laptop won't shut down

[Tom]

A couple of days ago, while I was working in the driveway, a neighbor stopped by and asked a question about his laptop. IIRC it's a Dell, 4-5 years old, running XP with automatic updates turned on. He says that the only way he can shut down the laptop is to unplug the power cord and remove the battery, and he's been having to do with for some time. Any suggestions besides buying a newer laptop?

TIA.

[Pat]

Most laptops said hold down the power button for several seconds (10 or so), and it will shut down. 

--pat

[Jackliz]

A couple of days ago, while I was working in the driveway, a neighbor stopped by and asked a question about his laptop. IIRC it's a Dell, 4-5 years old, running XP with automatic updates turned on. He says that the only way he can shut down the laptop is to unplug the power cord and remove the battery, and he's been having to do with for some time. Any suggestions besides buying a newer laptop?

TIA.

We have a Dell laptop, also 4-5 yrs old, running XP. Hold the power button down for at least 15 seconds. That should turn the machine off. IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, I would suspect a corrupted bios.  A call to Dell service would be in order.

Regards,
Jack

[aka Porky]

Tom, I have heard of this problem with Dell laptops with the Media Direct feature.  Somehow the MD partition gets honked up and is in some update or recovery condition and won't allow a shutdown until the process is finished.

If that feature exists on that particular machine, you might try to boot the OP system as well as the MD feature and investigate the status of the application further.

I've discovered from my grand kids that they love that feature, since they use their laptops for watching DVD's more than for studying anyway.

[aka Porky]

Pat and Jack,

In the case of the Dell Media Direct feature (or the HP equivalent) holding down of the power button to activate the APM or ACPI function has no lasting effect, because the feature just signals the machine to power back up and reboot from the feature partition.  

XP (or whatever OP SYS) is not rebooted.

Jack, your older laptop probably doesn't have the media direct feature.  The activation key would probably be next to the power on button.

[Ned]

There's always the solution of last resort, FDISK, FORMAT and reload Windows.  If he has the Dell recovery CD that would do it too other than all the Windows updates that would need to be applied.  I would get a copy of service pack 3 for local installation to minimize the number of hot fixes to download.

[DonTom]

A couple of days ago, while I was working in the driveway, a neighbor stopped by and asked a question about his laptop. IIRC it's a Dell, 4-5 years old, running XP with automatic updates turned on. He says that the only way he can shut down the laptop is to unplug the power cord and remove the battery, and he's been having to do with for some time. Any suggestions besides buying a newer laptop?TIA.

Has he tried to boot up in the safe mode and see if he still has the problem? I bet it's a software driver preventing the shutdown. From the Safe Mode he can view all drivers, if being used or not, and try to find the one that is causing the problem and delete it from there.


                                                                    -Don- SF, CA

[Tom]

Thanks y'all for the replies and suggestions. I'll pass them along when I see my neighbor on his morning walk.

[John From Detroit]

Last time I had that kind of problem (Start-Turn off-Turn off did not work) I had a virus on board that had disabled it.

My anti-virus software (primary) missed it.  One of the back up programs smacked it silly and restored normal operation.

Just so you know. (I have 3 or 4 (or more) anti-virus programs on file)

[1joester2]

There's always the solution of last resort, FDISK, FORMAT and reload Windows.  If he has the Dell recovery CD that would do it too other than all the Windows updates that would need to be applied.  I would get a copy of service pack 3 for local installation to minimize the number of hot fixes to download.

To my knowledge, that method has NEVER failed. I also kill and create a new partition.

[Tom]

I saw my neighbor a couple of days ago and asked about his laptop. He was very appreciative of all the suggestions (I'd printed out this topic and given it to him), but said "none of them worked".

[John From Detroit]

While it is possible for a hunk of malware (Virus like program) to wedge itself into the power controls and prevent shut down by normal methods.

Sitting on the power button for like a mintue should do a "panic down"

Also, there is a program GIZMO from Steve Gibson  That just might do it too.. Now this takes a bit of knowledge to set up.. (you will need to create a shortcut and edit it's properties)  but it's kind of cute,, Has a lot of "posibiliteis" no less Very small,  If you choose to download it the download may well complete before you get your finger off the button it's that small.

[taoshum]

I assume he has checked the power settings in "control panel"?  If that's no good he can hit "control alt delete" to launch "task manager" and look at the processes that are running to see if there is one (or more) that doesn't belong... or, try to "turn off" from that window, or, one by one, terminate each of the processes, the try the power button to see which one is causing the problem.  At some point, it is just easier to pull the battery or re-install windows...  It will run without the battery... then pulling the plug is a one step instant power off.

FWIW.  Thx, G.

[1joester2]

Have him run the online scanner located here:
http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/ (I have no affiliation)

He might not be able to clean up any malware he has with this scan, but it will identify it and Googling the name of the found items should make cleaning it possible. Advise him to copy the EXACT name as it appears following the scan.

Find out what antivirus he's running and make sure it gets updated everyday.

I have fixed PC's for people i know who swear they have antivirus. Sure they do (did). Norton that expired years before and was never updating. Scanning with their software would naturally not find any issues since the virus or malware causing the trouble was unknown to the A/V software.

Joe

[Tom]

Thanks, I'll pass the additional info along.

[seilerbird]

Tom - I would suggest hitting the Start button then All Programs and under Accessories open the Run box. Type msconfig into the box and click OK. On the Startup tab click Disable All and the remove the battery and turn it back on and reboot. If it solves the problem then go back to msconfig and turn things on one at a time until the culprit is found. If it doesn't solve the problem then run msconfig and click Enable All.

[taoshum]

there's a $300-$400 (maybe less?) solution that will last for years... worth considering unless there is something in Win7 that makes it impossible.  At some point, investing more and more time in one of these software "black holes", is not worth it, IMHO.  If your time is worth even $10/hr, not to mention your blood pressure, a cummulative investment of 30-40 hours and you've paid for the new hardware/software.  I know how frustrating it can be though... "let's see, let's check one more possibility..."  Good Luck.

[JerArdra]

Tom,

This is the way it is on my ChemBook LapTop using XP Pro.  Go to Control Panel>Power Options>Advanced (it's a tab).  Then you'll see a screen that, as one of it's choices, says:  When I press the power button on my computer do you want to Shut Down or Do Nothing.  Somehow maybe on your friend's PC Do Nothing was chosen???

JerryF

[Tom]

Thanks Jerry. I'm going to suggest my neighbor check in here to read/re-read all the suggestions.