You may experience Windows XP slow shutdown sequences when something is wrong with your Windows installation. Shutdown problems are one of the most common computer problems.
It may be a small comfort, but one thing is for sure : if you are experiencing shutdown problems, you are not alone.
Some of the symptoms that may occur :
- Slow shutdown
- Shutdown seems to hang
- Computer reboots instead of shutdown
These problems often remain unsolved for several reasons. Most of the time it only slows you down, but you can still work on your computer. Most people don’t even try to solve it because they think it requires expert skills to fix Windows XP slow shutdown situations.
Don’t be like most people.
Troubleshooting Windows XP slow shutdown sequences can be a lot easier than you think.
Your computer reboots rather than shutting down
A lot of computers with shutdown problems do this. It’s because Windows XP has a default setting to reboot the computer in the event of a system crash. When something goes wrong during the shutdown event, Windows may think that it crashed and restarts your computer.
First thing to do when this happens to your computer is configure Windows so that it doesn’t automatically restart after a critical failure :
- Click the start button, right-click “My Computer” and select properties
- Click the “advanced” tab
- In the “Startup and Recovery” section, click the “settings” button
- The “Startup and Recovery” dialog appears
- In the “System failure” section, deselect the “Automatically restart” checkbox
- Click ok
- Click ok
Turn off the auto-reboot option to prevent reboot instead of shutdown
This workaround prevents your computer from rebooting during shutdown, but unfortunately it doesn’t take away the root cause of the failure. Here are some other steps that you can try to solve the underlying problem.
Hardware device drivers
Problematic device drivers are another well-know cause for shutdown problems. To quickly check if your system contains devices with problematic drivers :
- Click the Start button
- Right-click “My Computer” and select “Properties”
- Click the “hardware” tab
- In the “Device Manager” section, click the “Device Manager” button
Windows shows the Device Manager with a complete list of all the hardware it finds in your computer. Look for any devices with an exclamation point or a question mark in a yellow circle. These are devices that have problems with their drivers and that can cause you a lot of trouble.
Some feature-rich keyboards or other input devices are known to cause trouble during the shutdown sequence. If you see any of those easy-replaceable, problematic (yellow circle) devices in your device manager, try replacing it with a more standard piece of hardware and test shutdown.
Return from this windows xp slow shutdown tip to the general Windows XP shutdown page.
