Windows Shutdown Problems - Will they ever go away?
I have been looking through the discussions again (yes - I DO look!), and it seems that the old chestnut of Windows shutdown problems still exist. I have had this problem myself and have managed to resolve it. However, I appreciate that my problem may not be the same as yours so I thought that this weeks article would be about the problems of shutting down and hopefully, give you some suggestions as to how you might cure your own problem.
Windows Shutting Down... Please Wait
We have all seen it, but what is Windows actually doing at this stage? If, like me, you don't leave applications open when you shutdown, what is their to do? Quite a lot actually! Here's a list of the tasks that Windows performs when shutting down. Depending on your set up, they may not be in this order...
· Shutdown each program that appears in the system tray (clock, volume etc)
· Write the current settings to the system registry incorporating any changed made in the session
· Stop and unload any system device drivers that have been loaded during the session
· Tidy up any temporary files including virtual storage (swap file)
· Unload (stop) Windows itself.
· Send a system halt command to the processor. This effectively switches the machine off or displays the "It is now safe..." message
During this time, the system is at a particularly "volatile" state as it is gradually removing components that it usually relies on - particularly for error trapping. That is - you won't get "Invalid Page Fault" type messages - the system just "hangs".
As a result, it can be very difficult to determine where the problem actually is. For this reason, you have to create a plan of action. If you are lucky, this won't take too long - but it can be quite a time consuming exercise!
Before we go into this plan, lets take a brief look at what happens to Windows when it starts up. Problems here may not get detected until you shutdown.
· Perform POST checking (Pre-Operative System Checks). That is, check physical memory, check CMOS - can the system devices be accessed?
· Any programs or settings contained in AUTOXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS are actioned
· Start to load Windows
· Windows starts to load device drivers, fonts and its "core components"
· Windows starts to load the desktop and system tray programs
· Control passes to the user and they are ready to begin work.
Errors in these procedures may or may not be noted or appear to give you any problems. It looks like your system is working fine but that may not be the case. You can check the success of a start up by checking BOOTLOG.TXT (which is a hidden system file so you may need to "turn on" the explorer settings to let you see this file.
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