shutdown/startup issues

[Cunjo]

System info: 400-VTX ACPI laptop 2.20GHz/1.18GHz 256MB RAM
Microsoft Windows XP Home (Service Pack 1 only)

well, with my computer's overall reliability degrading, I finally got to the point where something needs to be done.

1) a newer issue, (the last month or so) when shuting down the computer, it will log me out, and display the 'windows is shutting down' screen... and just stop like that. the fan keeps running, it keeps making noises as if it's reading or writing to the HD, and it displays that ultimately aggrivating screen until I turn it off by holding down the power button (I've left it running like this for more than an hour on occasion not realizing it wasn't shut down)

2) also recent, (this last week and a half) if I shut down the computer properly after use, it will not start up! it will get part way through loading the startup applications and tasks - sometimes most of the way - and then freeze like that. more than 90% of the time, after holding down the power button to turn it off and then starting it again, it will boot up fine. (whether I boot it up right away or wait an hour doesn't seem to affect this at all)

I scan regularily with norton AV 2004, and always run Trojan Guarder in the background (except when installing system updates) I also make a point to run ad-aware often, and I have a ZA pro firewall in addition to spywareblaster and socks 4/5 ad blocker. I seldom ever find anything that gets past my firewall, and when I do it is taken care of, so I have no idea what could be causing it to degenerate like this. I have had multiple application-related problems, though none of them critical, so I think nothing of them (the IE runtime errors on some pages being the most annoying)

could anyone help me figure out what's going on?

I will post a HijackThis log if requested.

 

[killians45]

disable scan floppies on acess in nortons. used to be a problem that would sometimes occur, not often, when windows would send out the park/shutdown command to the hardware, nortons would see it as access and try and scan it and that would cause some problems. as far as boot up, what do you have in the startup?

 

[Cunjo]

I'll take a look at that possibility with norton when I get the chance; I don't think that norton has ever scanned anything when accesed, but it's something to look into. Would first removing the other drives and peripherals help if that was the case?

Startup items (from memory): Microsoft broadband networking utility, SonicCineplayer (soon to be removed now that I have WMP10), Zone Alarm pro, MSN Messenger 6.2, MSN Messenger + plugin, Trojan Guarder full version, Norton 2004, Gateway (roxio/symantec) goback deluxe, Socks 4/5 ad blocker, different taskbar icons for my network bridge, LAN and Wi-Fi. It tends to start them up in different orders each time, which may explain why it makes it further some times than others.

EDIT: and please don't tell me I'm going to have to remove Roxio Goback; I am well aware of the XP compatability issues, and have made changes to accomodate. The last thing I want to do is get rid of the program that has saved my a** more times than I can count.

 

[killians45]

nah, as long as you have the update for goback and xp, you should be fine. its using the older version of goback that'll cause problems. hell, I'd just suggest turning off XP's restore function, its not needed. try disabling most of your startup group, see if thats one of the causes. if that doesn't do it, then you can narrow it down to a problem driver. you can also do as you said and remove and peripherials. also on bootup, if cntrl alt del, does anything show as not responding? and check event viewer, see what if any errors show.l

 

[Cunjo]

I know enough to keep system restore disabled.

I can mess with the startup group. Task manager doesn't show any of them as running - it only shows them in the processes list.

 

[killians45]

well, disable all but the critical processes. in xp just go into services

 

[Cunjo]

I just deleted Sonic Cineplayer from the system, as well as MSN+ and a few non-startup items I didn't need. I'll have to wait and see how much it helps; SonicCineplayer seemed to be the cause of some lockups if I tried to close it during the startup process.

 

[killians45]

let me know if that works

 

[Cunjo]

negative, the problem persists.

It seems to freeze before the ZA pro taskbar icon loads whenever it does. I'm considering uninstalling the firewall. The problem is, I don't still have the registration code for it, and as I understand it, they don't distribute it anymore. Any suggestions? such as a different firewall I can use?

 

[killians45]

hmmm... well, XP has a built in firewall. Have you tried to just disable it from starting up?