# My computer doesn't shut down **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791 "2005-04-17T21:01:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/1 "2005-04-17T21:01:20Z")
When I try to sTurn Off Computerhut down the standard way, Satart, Turn Off Computer, Turn Off, my system hangs at Windows is shutting down. I scanned for spyware and viruses, to no avail. Any help will be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/2 "2005-04-17T21:03:00Z")
> [@E = mc²](#): > > When I try to sTurn Off Computerhut down the standard way, Satart, Turn Off Computer, Turn Off, my system hangs at Windows is shutting down. > > I scanned for spyware and viruses, to no avail. > > Any help will be appreciated. My OS is XP Pro. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/3 "2005-04-17T21:04:55Z")
When you go to shut it down, are there any popups that say “Not Responding”, or anything like that? ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/4 "2005-04-17T21:38:44Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > When you go to shut it down, are there any popups that say “Not Responding”, or anything like that? Oy yoy yoy. I just re-read my idiot-level OP. Embarrassing but you get the idea. No, no pop-ups. Just that screen “Windows is shutting down” ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/5 "2005-04-17T22:11:50Z")
This happens to me also. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/6 "2005-04-17T22:21:10Z")
Press and hold the power button. That should force a hard shut down. After a while start up the machine again and see if you do a regular shut down. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/7 "2005-04-17T22:25:23Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Press and hold the power button. That should force a hard shut down. After a while start up the machine again and see if you do a regular shut down. My dads computer has the same problem (not sure if he’s running XP or not though, I’ll check next time I get a chance). He does what **adam yax** suggests, which works fine, but is sort of annoying (well, very very slightly) to have to do everytime. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/8 "2005-04-17T22:34:15Z")
[http://aumha.org/win4/a/shutdown.htm](http://aumha.org/win4/a/shutdown.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/9 "2005-04-17T22:39:19Z")
My old, backup computer does the same every now and then; I think it´s realated to the defunct motherboard battery cell; you can check out if it´s a goner if the system date is reset in every startup. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/10 "2005-04-17T23:13:55Z")
Oh, I figured it out (In my case, anyway). Do you have Norton Antivirus installed? If you do, there’s an application called ccApp that causes the computer to hang when you ask it to shut down. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/11 "2005-04-17T23:15:15Z")
I went into msconfig (Run: msconfig), then the Startup tab, and deselected ccApp. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/12 "2005-04-18T01:15:49Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Press and hold the power button. That should force a hard shut down. After a while start up the machine again and see if you do a regular shut down. I did and it didn’t. I.e… After shutting down as above, I tried for a shutdown and got the same “Windows is shutting down” message. I then tried a Restart, and hung up just as before. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/13 "2005-04-18T01:22:06Z")
When did this start happening? Was it after you installed a particular application, MS update, etc? I had something similar (my PC wouldn’t reboot via Start-Shutdown-Restart) and a BIOS update from the Mobo manufacturer fixed it. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/14 "2005-04-18T01:43:16Z")
> [@DarkSideoftheFloyd](#): > > Oh, I figured it out (In my case, anyway). Do you have Norton Antivirus installed? If you do, there’s an application called ccApp that causes the computer to hang when you ask it to shut down. AutoProtect and Email scan will not function without ccApp. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/15 "2005-04-18T02:04:44Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > When did this start happening? Was it after you installed a particular application, MS update, etc? > > I had something similar (my PC wouldn’t reboot via Start-Shutdown-Restart) and a BIOS update from the Mobo manufacturer fixed it. I downloaded and installed a poker site’s software to enable me to play at that particular site. I also did the same for a utility at… [http://www.onlinepokerfaq.com/guide/mouseless-poker.html](http://www.onlinepokerfaq.com/guide/mouseless-poker.html) …which would let me set up my system to use hotkeys for playing poker (just playmoney) online. Havn’e done anything with the software,as yet, however… In the meantime, I’m thinking about letting the computer run overnight ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/16 "2005-04-18T02:22:00Z")
Shutdown problems are hard to diagnose and can be caused by some pretty strange reasons (on one version, if the Windows shutdown sound file was corrupted, the entire shutdown process could hang). I you can pinpoint when the problem began occurring, use System Restore to set the configuration to that time. This may be more effective than just uninstalling a suspect program. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/17 "2005-04-18T02:41:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Shutdown problems are hard to diagnose and can be caused by some pretty strange reasons (on one version, if the Windows shutdown sound file was corrupted, the entire shutdown process could hang). > > I you can pinpoint when the problem began occurring, use System Restore to set the configuration to that time. This may be more effective than just uninstalling a suspect program. Thanks! I will try it - tomorrow - when I’m brighter-eyed and bushier-tailed. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-doesnt-shut-down/299791/18 "2005-04-18T21:55:41Z")
If I may add my own question here… I’ve had some shutdown troubles lately, on XP SP2. As soon as I click the red “shut down” button on the Start menu, Explorer crashes. I don’t even get the popup asking if I want to stand by, hibernate, etc. When Explorer restarts automatically, it works properly and I can shut down fine. I can also shut down by using Task Manager. Any tips for tracking down the cause?