h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can any one tell me why my PC is behaving like a sulky child and refusing to shut down? It goes to the screen 'Windows is shutting down' and just sits there like a quivering brat skulking on the stairs!!!!!

On some systems - Windows 95, I believe - this could be a symptom of innaccurate recognition of something complicated to do with your hard disk controller. My computer used to suffer the same problem...

*tries hard to recall how he fixed it*

Hmmm. I think there's some kind of info file or other you can download... but I don't remember where to get it from. I suggest you try a decent search engine - http://www.google.com - and enter your OS, as well as 'system hang on shutdown'. With any luck, you'll get a useful link or two...

Hope this helps.

26199

One possibility has just occured to me... try Microsoft's 'Windows Update' page, I think it might be one of the more well-known bugs.

26199

My Laptop does exactly the same thing, but only when it has been on for any length of time. I end up just switching it off - it starts up again without any problems. I had Windows 95 and now have
Windows 98 and it does it with both.

My PC is extremely tempermental, when I am writing an e-mail, it keeps
enlarging the font size (often when I start a new line). It has only just started doing this - can any one tell me why?

Hmmm. Not wanting to worry you unnecesarily, but randomly changing font sizes sounds quite a lot like what someone might include in a macro virus. This would explain why it's only started happening recently...

On the other hand, it could be something else. What're you using to write your e-mails? McAfee run a decent online virus scanner, could be worth giving that a shot... try [Broken link removed by Moderator] , I think.

26199

Mine refuses to shut down every so often. (Windows 98) I just switch it off too - doesn't seem to have done it any harm...well, nothing I've noticed.

If it's made it to the shut down screen, and the hard drive has stopped, you should be safe to switch off.

Even if it hasn't shut down completely, most likely, a Scandisk will reveal that the only damaged files were temp files, which you were going to have to delete sooner or later anyway. I've also had Netscape preferences files come up as bad, but if I tell it to ignore the problem, I don't get any problems. Tell it to fix the problem, and all my settings are screwed up, and I have to reenter them.

Colonel Sellers, cursing Bill Gates' name from the 10th floor window.

I long ago came to the conclusion that PCs already intelligent and are on a mission to piss us off. One of mine's favorite tricks is to refuse to recognise the internal modem, claiming that it may be switched off...I mean its INTERNAL. Another is to announce when windows starts that no mouse is connected when it is. If it wasn't fro the fact that the only cure for either is to shut down the PC and then turn it off at the mains for 10 mins or so...surely this indicates that it is just a b*****d?

Using Tab like mad as too lazy to turn off Poncy PC again after already done it once to make mad,
Charley

I've had the genius error message "No keyboard detected - press F1 for setup or any other key to continue"...

you are probably running Windows 98 Second Edition. Microsoft admits that this is an issue they are working on. They have several patches out on their website that may offer some help

Have you noticed that when Win 98 hangs, you have to switch it off and it therefore runs Scandisk the next time you switch it on, the message tries to pin the blame for this on YOU!!

'...if you don't want to see this message again, please make sure you switch off properly...'


Yes, Bill! I do this!!! What we want is a message that says: 'Sorry I crashed on you. Just bear with me a minute while I make sure I haven't cocked anything up in the file system.'

And while I'm ranting, Why doesn't Win 95 look at the information you've given it earlier during setup? What I mean is, you boot up from the setup floppy and it asks you about what keyboard layout and what regional settings you want, so you type these in. Then when it's running Windows 95 for the first time, it gets to the bit where you set the time and date. I don't know if it's the same elsewhere, but in Blighty, having told Win 95 that you want British keyboard settings and regional settings, it then has US Pacific highlighted as the default time zone!! I ask you, you have a PC that's set up with British settings - what is more likely, that you're in Britain or Seattle?

End of rant.

We haven't been able to find out why some Win 98 PCs don't shut down properly at our workplace, despite extensive browsing of http://support.microsoft.com sorry I couldn't be more help.

That's typical... I haven't been able to figure out why Win2K won't work with Adobe Distiller, either. Support pages like theirs are great about covering every minute detail about everything but what you're trying to fix.

Their search engines work on a strange and incomprehensible logic, too. We got stuck for ages with a Win 98 PC that kept crashing on boot up with an error about a particular scanner VXD file. We searched on the MS Knowledgebase using that filename - nothing. After sending a request into them with no response, someone just typed in the word 'scanners' and searched. Hey presto, up came a document with the VXD filename in its title.

Oh, we thought, obviously that document wasn't there when we tried the initial search, but no, when we typed the filename in again, we got 'no documents found'.

MS does have patches for the Win98SE hang issue, but they don't bl**dy work.

'Tis broken. Broken I tell ye.

VXD issues have one fix, and one fix only... reinstall the OS. When one VXD in the chain gets screwed up, it screws up every one after it. So even if you fix the one it was calling out before, it'll call out the rest of them next time you reboot.

or alternatively if the vxd in question is a standard system file that has become corrupt, cross linked for instance, delete the original version and extract a frech copy from the OS installation CD/floppies.

On the subject of windows 9.x not "shutting down" properly, one way around this, although by no means a good solution, is to create a pif file pointing to command.com on your desktop with the advanced,start in MS-DOS check box ticked. this will behave in the same way as the restart in MS-DOS mode radio button in the shutdown dialog.
once at the DOS prompt propper it is totally safe to switch of your pc.

the it is know safe to switch of your computer screen is simply an overlayed bitmap and can sometimes be cleared with the command "mode co80".

windows/DOS does not need a shutdown and halt sequence in the way that Unix and BEOS do since it does not "Mount" it's file systems in the same way.

if the offending VXD is started from the system or win ini files, and it is not a vital system driver, then remove the reference to it.

How many of you guys are actualy experienced users?

or just live with it, pull the plug when 98 spits the dummy, and on start up press X when it enters chdsk and curse Billy Boy.

works for me!