Computer will not shutdown

[Zaunerstollen]

Whenever I click START/TURN OFF THE COMPUTER/TURN OFF, windows shuts down, but the system itself does not power down.  It sounds like it’s powering down, then spontaneously restarts. The only way to turn it off is to hold the power button down.  We had this issue once before when we initially built the computer.  It seemed to correct itself when we reformatted the drive and reinstalled XP and all drivers.  Not so lucky this time.  We reinstalled XP without installing any other applications or devices in order to eliminate conflicts.  FYI, we also disabled the "AUTO RESTART ON ERRORS" option, and this did not change a thing.  There are never any errors in the error log.

My custom system:
Motherboard:  ECS PT-800CD-A, Rev. 1.0A
Processor:  Intel P4, 3.2 GHz
Video Card:  NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Power Supply:  OKIA 450ATX, 450W
Main HD:  60 Gigs (~5-6 years old)
Data HD: 160 Gigs (3 months old)
DVD Rom (~3 years)
DVD R/RW
3.5 Floppy (very old)
Firewire card (triple port)

Brief background…  This all started last week when I saw an error pop up while the system was idle…something about data being erased from one of my drives (sorry, but I didn’t write the message down and I cannot remember verbatim what it said, but the only option I had was OK).  When I tried to startup the next morning, neither hard drive was detected, and the BIOS showed that no hard drives existed.  Disconnecting and reconnecting the power cables from the drives solved this problem temporarily, but it continued to happen intermittently whenever I started up the system.  When the system was running, the drives started making sounds like they were trying to power down and start back up (the system would temporarily freeze while this was happening).  Thinking the power cables to the hard drives might be going bad, I removed the power cables from the 2 DVD drives and connected them to the hard drives.  I was able to get a tighter connection with these cables, and I am no longer having problems with the drives being detected or making strange sounds.

The only problem that remains now is the shutdown issue.  Any ideas?  Thanks in advance.

Zaunerstollen (if interested, I’d be glad to explain the name)

[unlovedwarrior]

try putting this in the hardware section.. and deleteing this post  8-)

[Zylstra]

Or, ask a moderator to move your post.


But about your problem:
Any AntiVirus software?
Have you tried resetting the BIOS?
Have you done a FULL format, or tried a disk data destroyer? You could have a hard drive resident virus... (And boy, aren't those fun!)

[unlovedwarrior]

disk data destroyer??? whats that?

[Zylstra]

disk data destroyer??? whats that?

It completely OBLIOBERATES EVERYTHING* on the disk.
(Only if the process is done correctly, with a larger overpass than lets say... 3)
How?
Whenever you delete or format something, the entire disks content is marked as "Free Space" but the files are still there.
A disk data destroyer (or file shredder, there's a few names) takes every file, replaces the content of all the files with 1's and 0's. This makes the file no longer exist at ALL. Fastest way to do this is through 1 overpass, but its not as secure as 7 NSA overpass.

There are many different overpasses you can choose from (Typically 1-7)

Ccleaner also has these options available.

Using data/file shredders/destroyers is the most secure measure of deletion, excluding opening the hard drive and smashing the platters with a hammer....  

[Zaunerstollen]

First of all... Thanks.  I appreciate you helping me out by putting my post in the right area so the correct people will see it.  I wasn't sure if it was a software or hardware issue, so I initially put it in "other."  Thanks again.

My wife tells me that she did update the BIOS several weeks ago for a reason unrelated to this current problem (this would have been before the shutdown problem started occuring).  I myself thought the problem may be cause by a virus.  I couldn't see how a hardware problem could mess up my BIOS and hard drives together.  She is quite sure it is not a virus, especially since switching the power cables has fixed the hard drive problem.  Also, note that we did experience this same shutdown problem for a brief time when we originally set up the system (but reformatting and reinstalling everything fixed the problem that first time).

We reformatted the C-drive and reloaded XP and it still restarts upon shutdown.  I could always pull out the main power cable every time!  

Just wanted to say again that I appreciate your comments.  Thanks.

[dl65]

Zaunerstollen.......  This is just a shot in the dark , but when you click Start / Shutdown ........... and then a "shutdown windows" box pops up .....what does it say in the box ?

dl65  

[Zaunerstollen]

Zaunerstollen.......  This is just a shot in the dark , but when you click Start / Shutdown ........... and then a "shutdown windows" box pops up .....what does it say in the box ?

dl65  

The option on our version of XP actually says "Turn Off" rather than "Shutdown."  After clicking "Turn Off," the options are Standby, Turnoff, Restart.

Does this bring something to mind?

[Zaunerstollen]

I just wanted to write a follow-up to let you know that I solved the problem!  I went into the BIOS and changed the option "Power On by PCI Card" under the "Power Management" section from "enabled" to "disabled."  I'm not sure why this setting was enabled in the first place, or what PCI card was causing my computer to power back on.  Is this a default BIOS setting?  Anyway, it shuts down like a dream now.  I never thought I would be so happy to hear "nothing" from that machine!

Thanks to all of you who took the time to read and respond to our question.

Paula (wife of zaunerstollen!)

[unlovedwarrior]

its aleays good to hear from a person whose been helped from the knowledge floating around here