win xp restart failure

[kuby123]

whenever i download anything and pc says need to reboot for changes to take effect {mostly windows update}, the pc shuts down fine and starts to reboot. here is where the problem starts. At the win xp screen, the 3 little bars keep rolling across the bottom of win xp logo, nothing happens.-no reboot -it just idles. I have, at times, waited 10 minutes. on/off switch on pc wont work at this time, nor does reset switch. I have to reach in back of pc to turn it off. Then I turn power switch back on and it boots fine. Or if I decide to reboot the pc myself by clicking on restart, the same thing happens. Only way I get it to work is if I click "will restart later" and shut down pc with start/stop button on case, then hit button again to start the boot-up process from scratch.(here the on/off works). I did a complete format and reinstall of xp and problem still here. Im flabbergasted. You could imagine downloading all the win xp updates and having to turn off switch in back to restart every time to install sp1, sp2, and countless update patches. Any Ideas? No new hardware, or changes. I checked with microsoft knowledge base but couldn't understand about recovery console. any way, thats for pc's that keep rebooting. mine is just the opposite. Everything is fine till I have to restart. All suggestions greatly appreciated.

[Bryce W]

Is this a laptop or desktop PC?

This might be a ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) issue. In your BIOS (press F1 on most PC's to access the BIOS. Some PC's may have it as F2 or F10). There is an option in there somewhere called ACPI. Turn it off and then "exit and save changes". Be very careful in this area of your computer as it can damage it.

[kuby123]

this is an mini-tower with antec case I built 1 1/2 yrs ago. with intel p4-3000, 2048 ram 600 watt ps, two 250gig hd, 256 mg 7800 vid card--the works and now this just started recently

[kuby123]

I dl'd the proper bios iflash but am reluctant to try it cuz I dont have floppy drive connected and would have to install new bios update from internet (risky)

[Bryce W]

Dont do a BIOS flash, leave that as a last resort. Do you have the option to turn off ACPI in BIOS?

[tkrabec]

Have you run the standard virus and spyware checks?
Have you done a chckdisk?

there is a program called autopatcher found at http://autopatcher.com/

I've not had a chance to use it yet, but it looks like it will take care of the patch-reboot-repeat process.

[kuby123]

ok- i dl'd auto updater and its just another way of dl-ing windows updates. next, I went and did a start/run/sfc.exe/scannow. after running for 5 minutes it tell me to insert the xp cd to copy .dll files. ok. then after another ten minutes it tells me thats not the right cd. I need sp2 service pak cd. we all know its a dl not a disk. . thats the end of that. I tried to get microsoft support but they want to have initial charge of 59 bucks. (crazy). I cant do restore or last know good start because I reformatted entire hd then installed xp fresh. Most annoying thing, but I come to conclusion it has something to do with sp2 dll's.
I wonder if .net framework could be the problem. I remember it taking a super long time to dl and install version 3 from version 1 , then 2. sign me exasperated.

[Blues]

It is asking for 1 of 2 things that I can think of when it ask for a SP2 CD. First thought is it needs a SP2 CD which was out when it was first released but very few people I think picked these up. The next would be it needs an XP CD that already has SP2 on it. If you can get one of those give it a try if not... good luck Im tired and unpaid.

[tkrabec]

I can't believe I forgot about that. Next time you restart the machine press "F8" and choose the logged option then once you get into windows check the bootlog.txt file, the last few lines are typically the most important since the computer usually hangs up where the problem is occurring and does not write much more to the file.

[BrianG]

You will need to create a "slipstreamed" SP2 CD. There are instructions, scripts etc available at:
winsupersite dot com (stupid 15 post URL rule, and I write for Technibble...lol)
Do some google searching - it's possible to create your own custom install disk with all updates, drivers etc - the key being saving time on future XP Re-installs.
I'm guessing the interrupted defrag caused your system to lose some files, possibly drivers, more likely system files which XP needs to cleanly shut down. The system could be hanging on shut down from Windows having corrupted system files etc - most likely given the prompt to replace some of those files with an SP2 CD.

Good Luck and do let us know how it goes.