Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

Not sure what causes it but sometimes the computer refuses to shut down. The only way out is to physically press the Off button. I have XP Pro with SP2, Norton Antivirus and Norton Firewall, AMDI 64-bit processor with about 1Gig RAM, 30 Gig hard drive (master) and a 235Gig hard drive (slave). About the only software installed are a couple c++ compilers, Office 2003 and MySql server, but the computer is NOT used as a database server.

Any suggestions what to do about this problem? I just refrmatted and reinstalled everything about a week or so ago.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by nanosani

Dani AI

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Consolidated, practical checklist to isolate what’s preventing Windows XP from shutting down. Several replies already point at startup items and security software; the steps below order quick, non‑destructive checks first and add concrete captures that make the offending process or service obvious.

  1. Reproduce in Safe Mode. If Safe Mode shuts down normally the cause is a third‑party service/driver.
  2. Clean boot with msconfig (disable non‑Microsoft services and startup items) and test. A clean boot that shuts down = a startup/service culprit.
  3. Capture the system state immediately after a failed shutdown (when the desktop returns). Save process and service lists for later analysis:
mkdir C:\diag
tasklist /v > C:\diag\tasklist.txt
tasklist /svc > C:\diag\tasklist_services.txt
sc query > C:\diag\sc_query.txt
shutdown -s -t 0
  1. Use Process Explorer (Sysinternals) to inspect processes that refuse to close and to search which process holds open handles to files or network shares. Check for services hosted inside a process (tasklist /svc helps with that).
  2. Check Event Viewer (Administrative Tools → Event Viewer → System/Application) for errors logged at the time of the shutdown attempt — Service Control Manager / application errors often name the failing service.
  3. Try disabling third‑party AV/firewall briefly (or stop its service) and reattempt shutdown; many antivirus/endpoint products intercept shutdown. Also verify mapped network drives (use net use) and uninstall recently added drivers or apps if the problem started after an install.

Cautions and follow‑ups: avoid repeated hard power‑offs (risk of filesystem damage). After any forced power‑off, run chkdsk /f and sfc /scannow. Combine ’s registry tips, ’s process‑ending idea and ’s AV suspicion with the captures above to pinpoint the exact .exe or service.

Recommended Answers

All 10 Replies

Member Avatar for FC Jamison

I found this for you, Ancient Dragon.

I'm not sure it will help...but it's worth a shot.

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

thanks for the tip.

Member Avatar for 'Stein

Can you by chance see what*.exe is causing it to not shut down?

Member Avatar for JakeCourtney

It's probably spyware that refues to close. Run Ad-ware and remove some stuff from the startup to troubleshoot.

Member Avatar for 'Stein

Spyware is a very valid possiblity, although I wouldn't reccomend Adaware.

Rather, use Ewido--it has a better detection rate.

Member Avatar for JakeCourtney

Rather actually, use both. Cause not one single program will remove everything.

Member Avatar for Mix

It was a post there that had Jamison's tip and a lot of others. I'm a net virtuoso who just goes around passing knowledge, information to information linkage is my code of conduct .

Member Avatar for pcbrooks

This is late but might be of use to someone who comes along even later :)

I get this problem frequently on my work PC. It won't log off or shut down unless the BRS is used.

I finally narrowed down the potential culprits to one: PccNTMon.exe.

If you have tried to log off/shut down numerous times and been returned to the desktop, try this:

Go into Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete is one way), select the Processes tab and look for PccNTMon.exe (if you happen to have Office Scan on your system), select it, and click the End Process button (ignore dire warnings), then you should find your system then heads to the shut down/log off process very quickly.

I recommend restarting your system, logging in, and then shutting down again immediately but using the usual process of Start etc, or whatever you normally use, so that the system gets a chance to go through the process as it should.

Since in this specific case you have Norton AntiVirus, my guess is that is what's got twister knickeritis and is petulantly refusing to allow a shut down because you might be a virus.

Off the top of my head I can't tell you what executable you should look for - it'll probably be something like NavMon.exe or somesuch. If anyone else knows the correct .exe, please chip in, even at this late date!

HTH someone,

Peter

Member Avatar for nanosani

You can find out the culprit and remove it from Windows startup if it resides there. When you want to shutdown, open up your task manager and end all the processes running by your username. See if you can find the process that is not responding..

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