Fresh install of XP Pro hangs on shutdown overnight. 3

[ponoodle]

I just built a new PC with XP Pro sp3. Everything is up to date. MSI H61M P23 board, i3 2100 CPU, Corsair XMS3 4GB PC10666 DDR3 RAM, Seagate 1TB LP SATA HDD. We schedule every PC to reboot overnight with our startup script. The command we use is "AT 04:15 SHUTDOWN -R -F -C". This has worked fine for all other PCs. This new PC seems to hang at the shutdown. Every morning it is stuck on the light blue screen, and there is no message box. The mouse works, but nothing else does, such as ctrl+alt+del. Someone has to hold the power button in and shutdown and restart the PC. I can shut it down and restart it manually and with the command with no problems during the day. I see the command to shutdown in the event viewer at 4:15, and then nothing until the manual reboot,then the usual service starting events. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[DrB0b]

I know you said all the hardware was new, but did you test the RAM and HDD? Have you double checked the script and/or modified it to a earlier time to watch it to see if any programs are playing with it?

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[ponoodle]

Yeah, the RAM and HDD test fine. I was thinking about scheduling a reboot for an earlier time like you said, so maybe there will be more clues in the morning.

 

[linney]

Is the Scheduled Task running with enough Privileges?

How to troubleshoot scheduled tasks in Windows XP and in Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308558

How to modify scheduled tasks in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308671

Resources to help troubleshoot shutdown problems in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308029&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

SHUTDOWN & RESTART TROUBLESHOOTING

http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm

 

[BadBigBen]

I am thinking along the lines that an installed app is not closing/ending correctly on shutdown...

open the registry editor and avigate to HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

change HungAppTimeout to 1000
change WaitToKillApp to 1000
change AutoEndTasks to 1

the first two could be left alone (they just change the response time), but definitely check the third (this one actually kills the hung up tasks), and if the binary-key does not exist then create it...


btw. does the EVENT VIEWER mention anything informative about this issue or around this time?


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[ponoodle]

After reading days worth of events, which isn't as fun as it sounds, I noticed that the WMI Performance Adapter service was already off, or turned off at the time of any successful reboot. And there was no mention of it when the reboot failed. So I scheduled it to turn off 5 minutes before shutdown, and it was all good. Now that I have a solution to the problem, I'm off to find the reason for it. Thanks for the help all.