PC won't Shut Down or Log Off

[Apocalypse_666]

Hello,
I've been having this problem for quite some time, and tried about everything I could find on the internet, but nothing has worked.

This is the case: Whenever I try to turn off my computer, or log off to go into another account, Windows shows the blue screen with the logo, but where it's supposed to say "Windows is shutting off" or "Saving your preferences" or whatever, it's empty. It hangs there, and the only thing I can do is shut it off manually by pressing the power off button.

First I thought it had something to do with DirectCD, which is a major cause of shut down problems, but deinstalling it didn't help at all.

Another weird thing is, that it doesn't always do it, just very frequently, which makes me suspect it's caused by a program I start up myself, but I can't think of any that would cause this sort of behaviour.

I would be very gratefull if anyone had any sort of suggestion! This thing bothers me immensly...

Thanks,

Apoc

[bbent]

Have you tried Task Manager to see what process is stopping the shutdown or hoggint the cpu? It might be helpful to know what version of Windows you are running, etc (try including version, SP#, cpu, etc.). If you are unable to go into Task manager, is it completly frozen (e.g., no mouse movement)?

Regards,
bbent

[maui_mallard]

unfortunatly I think you have some sort of program hodding your CPU and computer memory. I would suggest reinstalling Windows......Unless you have some important files you ant to keep in you computer...or don't have a XP disk then i would say never mind But at this point in time I would say reinstall windows

[Apocalypse_666]

Well, I tried that =P I've formatted my entire pc and reinstalled windows... So that's no good i'm afraid. About the task manager, I'm still able to move my mouse, but that's about it, I can't acces any programs or the task manager. As for my system, I'm running Windows XP with SP 2, I've got a Pentium 4 2.4 ghz processor, 512 mb Ram. Anything else you need?

[maui_mallard]

Then you probably have a virus in your boot sectors of your hard drive.....try replacing the hard drive.....even if you can just replace with it like a 2.gb drive, just large enough to put 98 on it...just to test it.....that will tell you whether its your hdd or something else.....this will help narrow it down:)