Thinkpad Shutsdown but Won't restart

[bealdrid]

Hey guys, first post here, and this one has truly stumped me so hopefully someone has some insight.

Problem:

My WinXP Pro Thinkpad R32 laptop refuses to restart (start | turn off computer | restart). It gets to the "Windows is shutting down" screen and simply hangs. However, shutdown (start | turn off computer | turn off ) works just fine.

What I have done so far:

I have tried "restarting" it from safe mode but the same thing happens. I have also formatted the computer and reinstalled windows - same thing happens - even during the installation of windows, I know it had failed to correct the issue because as many times as it wants your computer to restart during the install, not once did it do it on it's own. I always had to manually turn it off, and turn it on. I have also upgraded the BIOS to the most recent version. I removed the extra 256 MB of ram I had put in to see if that was conflicting but it wasn't. I have determined this is likely a hardware issue, because I removed the harddrive last night, booted up into the bios and when I tried to "exit" / restart from the bios (F10) it froze. I have tried different AC adapters, and tried with and without the battery installed. Any insight at all would be greatly appreciated!

[rember911]

did you try using the restart command in cmd?
go into cmd prompt and type this:
shutdown -r

the shutdown will default to a 30 second timer. if you want it to take less time, try this:
shutdown -r -t 5
that will make it 5 seconds.

also, you can try using the abort command. in the past, ive experienced things where i go to shutdown my computer but it doesnt. i click it again and again and still nothing. if you go into command prompt and type shutdown -a it will abort all shutdowns. after i do this, i hit shutdown again, and it works on the first try. its like it gets backed up or something.

so, first type in shutdown -a.
next type in shutdown -r or shutdown -r -t 5 for a 5 second timer. that should restart your computer.

[bealdrid]

Gave it a try, but same thing. Thanks though

[rember911]

ok im stumped. try hitting it with something large and blunt.
i guarentee you'll never have trouble trying to get it to restart again.
youll have trouble starting it though.

i forgot you can check out your bios. see if there are ne options about like allowing restart or how much your computer turns off. like does it still allow power through when it turns off? (i forget what this is called its been a while since my A+ hardware test)

[bealdrid]

any other ideas before I give up on it??