# Why won't my computer turn off?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2002, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312 "2002-06-21T18:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/1 "2002-06-21T18:19:14Z")
Just rolled my own pc with an Athlon 1800, ASUS a7v333, & WinXP. When I choose Shutdown, XP goes through the motions but instead of powering off, it reboots. I read elsewhere that the problem could be a hidden device called NT APM something or other, but I checked & it’s not there. I’m working around this now by putting the system into hibernation. Nice fix, works fine, but I’d really like to actually turn the dang thing off once in a while. Any ideas on how to make it turn off? Please, no “smart” answers involving power cords, forced power off, etc. I’ll be monitoring this thread frequently throughout the day, so if there are any follow-ups, hopefully I’ll be able to help you help me. ---
**Author:** ![Tattva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@Tattva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tattva)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/2 "2002-06-21T18:58:43Z")
Do you have Roxio burning software on your computer? ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/3 "2002-06-21T19:06:35Z")
I’m not sure if this feature is still available in XP, but try bringing up the Boot Menu by hitting F8 during boot (keep pressing it as soon as the bios finishes). There should be a “logged” option that will log the startup/shutdown sequence. Maybe by looking at the log after shutting down, you can see what the last thing unloaded was, and that may be causing the reboot. I also think there’s a way to disable “fast shutdown”, try looking through your control panel (System maybe). ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/4 "2002-06-21T19:09:35Z")
Oh yeah, the Logged option creates a bootlog.txt file in your C: root. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/5 "2002-06-21T20:31:40Z")
See [WINDOWS XP SHUTDOWN & RESTART TROUBLESHOOTING](http://www.aumha.org/a/shtdwnxpz.htm#reboots) ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/6 "2002-06-21T20:40:31Z")
also, first update your OS in case there’s a patch to fix it… i know there’s a problem with some of the latest fast hard disk drives and the windows shut down process… [http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/](http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/) also, snoop around your BIOS for shut-down settings… some motherboard BIOSes support full power-down state. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/7 "2002-06-21T20:41:33Z")
also, boot into safe mode and do a shut down… if it shuts down fine in safe mode you know it’s probably a driver/software/OS conflict… ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/8 "2002-06-21T21:56:20Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’m not in front of my computer right now, but I DO have Roxio DirectCD installed and I seem to remember that the setting for “restart on system failure” is also on. I’ll try those fixes when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![Tattva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@Tattva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tattva)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/9 "2002-06-21T22:40:21Z")
I only ask because there’s a known issue with the Roxio software in WinXP. It was causing my computer to restart everytime I hit shutdown. You can download a fix from [Roxio.com](http://Roxio.com). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/10 "2002-06-22T03:44:20Z")
I’ve had the same problem with Win2K and I found that it was related to some software I’ve had running (I do have Roxio installed, but that wasn’t the problem, it was Progress Quest.), to shut the machine down, all I have to do is close Progress Quest and then the machine’ll shut down. Might be something similar on your machine if its not the Roxio software. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-turn-off/115312/11 "2002-06-22T15:25:36Z")
Just a guess: START: H Search for ‘shut down’ Im sure there are hints there, every Windoz operating system has a manual with it. I don’t know what version of XP you have (?)