Win XP takes 5 minutes to shut down!
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Win XP takes 5 minutes to shut down!
Hi all,
Just lost the plot and after beating the dreaded Medion into submission over the lappy, I went out and bought their latest offering from Aldi. (Win XP home/3Ghz Intel4/1.5Gb RAM (Upgraded)/200GB HD/Medion Radeon 9800XXL with TV card. etc)
All is going well and I am generally pleased with the beast. However in the last 48 hours I have obviously got myself a shutdown conflict in that the machine has gone from 1 minute to shut down to over 5!! It does eventually shut down but takes forever. Disabling all processes produces a smart shut down as does working my way through the current processes in task manager, however I don't have enough years left in life to shut each process down independantly to see if it's the offending one.
Does anyone know of a utility that could isolate the conflict in the shutdown process?
In the last 48 hours I installed a game demo (Far Cry) from a magazine disk and had endless conflicts with the ATI Radeon 9800XXL graphics card, so that was uninstalled. Otherwise Norton and Windows updates along with a new version of Onspeed (Net accelerator) is all I've added to it. I have also done a lot of tweaking of the graphics settings, but FS2002/4 and IL2FB along with Call of Duty are all playing well both on and offline.
(Update 06/05/2004 13:19) Comparing processes in task manager with my laptop and other desktop I find that none of the non windows ones makes any difference when they are shut down. However ending one of the four 'svchost.exe'/system's shown will cause the machine to shut down quickly. I don't know if that is connected to the problem or just another way of getting the beast to shut down without hanging
Any Idea's?
Thanks.
BB
Just lost the plot and after beating the dreaded Medion into submission over the lappy, I went out and bought their latest offering from Aldi. (Win XP home/3Ghz Intel4/1.5Gb RAM (Upgraded)/200GB HD/Medion Radeon 9800XXL with TV card. etc)
All is going well and I am generally pleased with the beast. However in the last 48 hours I have obviously got myself a shutdown conflict in that the machine has gone from 1 minute to shut down to over 5!! It does eventually shut down but takes forever. Disabling all processes produces a smart shut down as does working my way through the current processes in task manager, however I don't have enough years left in life to shut each process down independantly to see if it's the offending one.
Does anyone know of a utility that could isolate the conflict in the shutdown process?
In the last 48 hours I installed a game demo (Far Cry) from a magazine disk and had endless conflicts with the ATI Radeon 9800XXL graphics card, so that was uninstalled. Otherwise Norton and Windows updates along with a new version of Onspeed (Net accelerator) is all I've added to it. I have also done a lot of tweaking of the graphics settings, but FS2002/4 and IL2FB along with Call of Duty are all playing well both on and offline.
(Update 06/05/2004 13:19) Comparing processes in task manager with my laptop and other desktop I find that none of the non windows ones makes any difference when they are shut down. However ending one of the four 'svchost.exe'/system's shown will cause the machine to shut down quickly. I don't know if that is connected to the problem or just another way of getting the beast to shut down without hanging
Any Idea's?
Thanks.
BB
Last edited by BoeingBoy; 6th May 2004 at 21:22.
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BoeingBoy,
If you do a scan of your system I am going to guess you will find a Back Door Trojan that is used for remotely launching DoS Attacks.
Give Trend Micro's HouseCall a run.
Take Care,
Richard
If you do a scan of your system I am going to guess you will find a Back Door Trojan that is used for remotely launching DoS Attacks.
Give Trend Micro's HouseCall a run.
Take Care,
Richard
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Thread Starter
Thanks Guy's.
I have run Norton AntiVirus and Spybot with clean results. I am also completely up to date on Win.updates as always. The two sites that you suggest would seem to replicate Norton, or are they different in some way. I will run them anyway to be sure.
However I suspect that I have wound up with some software clashes acquired as I have added programs and updates over the last two days. Other odd anomalies that I have noticed in the last two days include:
1. Norton Anti Virus takes a lot longer to appear in the taskbar since the last update (Two to three minutes)
2. Norton Firewall won't respond until anti virus appears
3. The computer has a wireless keyboard and mouse. The keyboard has thrown up the odd error on boot up, but works well otherwise
4. Playing the FarCry demo caused several grahics card crashes after trying to set video settings to better the picture. Finally gave up and uninstalled it.
Hope that helps
Dave BB
I have run Norton AntiVirus and Spybot with clean results. I am also completely up to date on Win.updates as always. The two sites that you suggest would seem to replicate Norton, or are they different in some way. I will run them anyway to be sure.
However I suspect that I have wound up with some software clashes acquired as I have added programs and updates over the last two days. Other odd anomalies that I have noticed in the last two days include:
1. Norton Anti Virus takes a lot longer to appear in the taskbar since the last update (Two to three minutes)
2. Norton Firewall won't respond until anti virus appears
3. The computer has a wireless keyboard and mouse. The keyboard has thrown up the odd error on boot up, but works well otherwise
4. Playing the FarCry demo caused several grahics card crashes after trying to set video settings to better the picture. Finally gave up and uninstalled it.
Hope that helps
Dave BB
Last edited by BoeingBoy; 6th May 2004 at 21:19.
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BB.. if its not going to cause too much grief.. a re-install looks the better option to me.
(BTW - I have a P4 Medion, bought 18 months ago - its been fine, just needed a new Modem under warranty).
(BTW - I have a P4 Medion, bought 18 months ago - its been fine, just needed a new Modem under warranty).
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What version of the ATI Radeon drivers are you using? The newest Catalyst drivers (4.4) fix issues with the Far Cry demo and may help. The game is also very picky about anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering settings. If you turn them on in the advanced display settings, don't turn them on in the game and vice versa if you enable them in the game. I had some troubles with my Radeon 9800 Pro when I tried having settings turned on in both places.
The online virus scanners mentioned in the other posts tend to be more up to date than what you have on your computer, and may catch something NAV didn't.
goates
The online virus scanners mentioned in the other posts tend to be more up to date than what you have on your computer, and may catch something NAV didn't.
goates
Last edited by goates; 6th May 2004 at 22:12.
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In this month's Personal Computer World (UK edition - red cover) there's a really useful feature on transferring all your essential files from one PC to another. I reckon that you could also use the guidance given in the article to transfer settings and files between new HDDs if you want a pretty clean re-install.
I agree with other comments and think that the best way forward seems to be a re-install of most applications as well as the OS.
It takes a while, but it's generally worth it.
Have fun
I agree with other comments and think that the best way forward seems to be a re-install of most applications as well as the OS.
It takes a while, but it's generally worth it.
Have fun
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Thread Starter
Thanks for the help.
I have run Trend Micro's Housecall with a clean result. So tend to think that this has to be a piece of software thats hanging or a corruption caused by the chaos of having the Far Cry demo installed. (I really only noticed the shutdown problem after this and the latest Norton updates were installed)
Goates, you seem to have had the same problems I had with the game. My Radeon 9800 driver is listed as an ATI supplied 6.14.10.6426 dated the 27/01/2004. I see that ATI now list a 6436 so I'll try that as I see that it also resolves issues with FS2002/4. I found FS2004 frame rates to be very low (10 to 15) in virtual cockpit with the current set up.
As for a new installation I dread to think of having to start again with so many progs/files etc installed. I do have restore to factory settings option, so will use that as a last resort, at least it takes out the pain of installing all the drivers and Medion supplied software. In the meantime I guess I am going to have to live with the problem and use the task manager if I want a quick reboot.
Any further help always welcome
Best Wishes,
BB
I have run Trend Micro's Housecall with a clean result. So tend to think that this has to be a piece of software thats hanging or a corruption caused by the chaos of having the Far Cry demo installed. (I really only noticed the shutdown problem after this and the latest Norton updates were installed)
Goates, you seem to have had the same problems I had with the game. My Radeon 9800 driver is listed as an ATI supplied 6.14.10.6426 dated the 27/01/2004. I see that ATI now list a 6436 so I'll try that as I see that it also resolves issues with FS2002/4. I found FS2004 frame rates to be very low (10 to 15) in virtual cockpit with the current set up.
As for a new installation I dread to think of having to start again with so many progs/files etc installed. I do have restore to factory settings option, so will use that as a last resort, at least it takes out the pain of installing all the drivers and Medion supplied software. In the meantime I guess I am going to have to live with the problem and use the task manager if I want a quick reboot.
Any further help always welcome
Best Wishes,
BB
Last edited by BoeingBoy; 7th May 2004 at 08:29.
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BoeingBoy,
I also had the Far Cry demo on my computer, but didn't have any trouble when it was removed. I do have NAV and Norton Internet security, and I think the last couple of patches cause them to at least start up slower. I don't shut down my computer very often so haven't really noticed much trouble there. Maybe you could try removing all Norton products (after unplugging your internet connection ) and see what happens. At worst you would just have to reinstall them again.
Far Cry is running great on my computer with the new Catalyst drivers. Just make sure you completely remove the old drivers first. ATI has a utility for this, and there are also a couple of third party driver cleaners.
goates
I also had the Far Cry demo on my computer, but didn't have any trouble when it was removed. I do have NAV and Norton Internet security, and I think the last couple of patches cause them to at least start up slower. I don't shut down my computer very often so haven't really noticed much trouble there. Maybe you could try removing all Norton products (after unplugging your internet connection
) and see what happens. At worst you would just have to reinstall them again.Far Cry is running great on my computer with the new Catalyst drivers. Just make sure you completely remove the old drivers first. ATI has a utility for this, and there are also a couple of third party driver cleaners.
goates
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Thread Starter
Hi Goates,
I followed the ATI instructions and removed the old driver from add/remove prgrams and then added the new one. All seems to be OK but I still have the long shut down problem!
My manufacturers disk offers three levels of restore, a boot up file repair option. A restore all factory settings (which sounds like a Windows repair option) and a complete format and reinstallation including all drivers and Medion software) I will carry on investigating for now and see if anything comes up.
Thanks for the help again.
BB
I followed the ATI instructions and removed the old driver from add/remove prgrams and then added the new one. All seems to be OK but I still have the long shut down problem!
My manufacturers disk offers three levels of restore, a boot up file repair option. A restore all factory settings (which sounds like a Windows repair option) and a complete format and reinstallation including all drivers and Medion software) I will carry on investigating for now and see if anything comes up.
Thanks for the help again.
BB
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Hi BB,
There's an awful lot of nasties floating around on the net at the moment, and if you want, I can check out your machine for you..
Please download 'Hijack This!' from here, unzip, and place it in it’s own folder, (not in the temp folder, or on the desktop) doubleclick HijackThis.exe, and hit "Scan". When the scan is finished, click "Save Log", and copy and paste it in a PM to me. (Please disable smilies before hand)
This will give me a rundown of what’s going on in your PC. Don’t fix anything yourself yet, as a lot of the stuff on that list will be harmless or required.
Cheers
Liam
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A member of the Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals since 2004.
There's an awful lot of nasties floating around on the net at the moment, and if you want, I can check out your machine for you..
Please download 'Hijack This!' from here, unzip, and place it in it’s own folder, (not in the temp folder, or on the desktop) doubleclick HijackThis.exe, and hit "Scan". When the scan is finished, click "Save Log", and copy and paste it in a PM to me. (Please disable smilies before hand)
This will give me a rundown of what’s going on in your PC. Don’t fix anything yourself yet, as a lot of the stuff on that list will be harmless or required.
Cheers
Liam
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A member of the Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals since 2004.
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Thread Starter
Thanks E-liam,
I think that having run Norton AV, Sybot and Trend Micro's House call we have done the 'virus/worm' thing. However I thank you for the lead which I have passed onto a friend who is having home page hijack syndrom.
I am currently working on the idea of shutting down one program of the task manager processes each time I shut down each day. So hopefully in week or so I can eradicate the idea that it is due to one program hanging, after that I'll try a windows repair and then bite the bullet and try a factory settings format and restore.
(That's if I haven't tamed the tempestuous ATI 9800 Radeon graphics settings for each of the main flying sims and thrown the whole thing out of the study window!)
As a side question could someone give me the best settings for the paging file when you have 1.5gb of DDR RAM installed.
Thanks
BB
I think that having run Norton AV, Sybot and Trend Micro's House call we have done the 'virus/worm' thing. However I thank you for the lead which I have passed onto a friend who is having home page hijack syndrom.
I am currently working on the idea of shutting down one program of the task manager processes each time I shut down each day. So hopefully in week or so I can eradicate the idea that it is due to one program hanging, after that I'll try a windows repair and then bite the bullet and try a factory settings format and restore.
(That's if I haven't tamed the tempestuous ATI 9800 Radeon graphics settings for each of the main flying sims and thrown the whole thing out of the study window!)
As a side question could someone give me the best settings for the paging file when you have 1.5gb of DDR RAM installed.
Thanks
BB
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Thread Starter
Sorted!
Finally gave up and after various trials and other corruptions licked the index finger and 'Nuked' the C: drive back to factory settings.
Installed all relevant windows updates using the windows firewall and had no problems shutting down. Installed Norton Firewall 2002 and lo and behold I was back to the five minute shut down!!
Have now downloaded the latest Zone Alarm and reinstalled Onspeed and can't believe what I've been missing!
Byebye Norton!
Installed all relevant windows updates using the windows firewall and had no problems shutting down. Installed Norton Firewall 2002 and lo and behold I was back to the five minute shut down!!
Have now downloaded the latest Zone Alarm and reinstalled Onspeed and can't believe what I've been missing!
Byebye Norton!
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BB...
you asked: "As a side question could someone give me the best settings for the paging file when you have 1.5gb of DDR RAM installed."
As a rough rule of thumb, the system should allow 1½ times the RAM for total Pagefile(s). Whether you let Windows look after this or specify the Max and Min yourself is a question of choice.
I might choose to specify the size and location of the Pagefile.sys if I had more than one HDD and wanted to ensure that the paging was restricted to the fastest non-system HDD.
But, with a simple machine, I tend to leave it to Windows so that the Pagefile.sys is a variable entity.
you asked: "As a side question could someone give me the best settings for the paging file when you have 1.5gb of DDR RAM installed."
As a rough rule of thumb, the system should allow 1½ times the RAM for total Pagefile(s). Whether you let Windows look after this or specify the Max and Min yourself is a question of choice.
I might choose to specify the size and location of the Pagefile.sys if I had more than one HDD and wanted to ensure that the paging was restricted to the fastest non-system HDD.
But, with a simple machine, I tend to leave it to Windows so that the Pagefile.sys is a variable entity.
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Thread Starter
I should have known better!!
Well having said it was Norton Firewall I should have known better.
Having got the beast up and running with all windows/Realplayer/MS Messenger updates onboard, All hardware and progs instlled, updated and running sweetly I went and did it!
I thought to myself "I'll just try Norton one more time".
I installed Firewall/Virus/Utilities 2002 and found nothing wrong, shut down was OK (30") Great I thought!
Then I did the updates!!
I am now on my second 'Factory setting reset' in 24 hours!
No more Norton for me!.......Ever!
Thanks as ever for the replies and the assistance.
BB.
Having got the beast up and running with all windows/Realplayer/MS Messenger updates onboard, All hardware and progs instlled, updated and running sweetly I went and did it!
I thought to myself "I'll just try Norton one more time".
I installed Firewall/Virus/Utilities 2002 and found nothing wrong, shut down was OK (30") Great I thought!
Then I did the updates!!
I am now on my second 'Factory setting reset' in 24 hours!
No more Norton for me!.......Ever!
Thanks as ever for the replies and the assistance.
BB.
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Did you contact Symantec and advise of the problem?
It might be worthwhile, because I've always found them to be very helpful when I had problems with NAV. Usually something I'd overlooked (being a cocky bugger and not following instructions) when configuring the settings.
There may be some minor tweak in options that sorts the problem.
ST
It might be worthwhile, because I've always found them to be very helpful when I had problems with NAV. Usually something I'd overlooked (being a cocky bugger and not following instructions) when configuring the settings.
There may be some minor tweak in options that sorts the problem.
ST
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Thread Starter
Yes, thought of doing that as soon as I found the connection to Norton.
As I am running 2002 versions of Utilities/AV/Firewall the highly automated Norton site happily scanned my drive to inform me that my products were out of date and I should spend £70 upgrading to their latest offering!!
Further prodding around produced the fact that not only are my products out of date, they are no longer supported and any contact with their tech. support depratment was no longer available. I guess I could have scratched around for a contact page, but frankly at this point I was no longer enamoured with them enough to bother.
They also recently double charged me for my annual subscription. I paid up, (I needed the updates) and complained. It took five weeks to get a reply, and when they kindly offered to repay me they kept the Irish VAT element (£5).
I hope they enjoyed the Guinness on me!
As I am running 2002 versions of Utilities/AV/Firewall the highly automated Norton site happily scanned my drive to inform me that my products were out of date and I should spend £70 upgrading to their latest offering!!
Further prodding around produced the fact that not only are my products out of date, they are no longer supported and any contact with their tech. support depratment was no longer available. I guess I could have scratched around for a contact page, but frankly at this point I was no longer enamoured with them enough to bother.
They also recently double charged me for my annual subscription. I paid up, (I needed the updates) and complained. It took five weeks to get a reply, and when they kindly offered to repay me they kept the Irish VAT element (£5).
I hope they enjoyed the Guinness on me!
