My Computer Will Not Switch Off By Itself. What Can the Problem Be?

Question

I have a refurbished computer with 1.04Ghz AMD Athlon processor. It has 512Mb of RAM and runs using Windows XP. I have 40Gb. hard drive with 35% free space. I also have a 6Gb secondary drive and an 80Gb. extrenal drive.
I have the Microsoft Windows firewall running, also fully up to date Norton/Symantech and Spybot anti-spywear.

About 4 weeks ago I upgraded from dial-up to TalkTalk broadband. This works more or less smoothly, but increasingly I find it impossible to power down the computer. This occurs whether I have the modem switched on or not and wether I am switching off or "re-booting. I usually closes part of the way before freezing. I then have to switch off using the power button. My understanding is that this is damaging the hard-drive. Anyone any idea what the problem is and if their is a patch or upgrade to deal with the problem? Thank you for your assistance.

Answer 1

It could be a serious memory leak, so pay attention to the error messages you're getting, and if any OE errors pop up, then I would suggest replacing some parts or revamping your hardrive.

When you say that it happened after you upgraded from dial-up, than it could have to do with the software from this TalkTalk broadband.

Firstly, I would suggest defragmenting your drive, uninstalling any backround programs that you simply do not use to free up cpu usage and utilize what memory you have. Update your video card, soundcard, and check for updates on your broadband to see if they have found and fixed any serious errors. Make sure you have the most up to date drivers for your modem and external drive. See if there's a new download for firmware for your DSL/cable modem, you can check by the model number to see if that's hanging anything up. (Check at the company website for that)

Also you may be having some conflict with the new broadband software and your firewall, but that possiblity is less likely.
More likely, it's between the broadband ware and symantec norton anti-virus. Norton is good for what it does, but it takes up a massive amount of physical memory, and it has many problems with compatibility. I would suggest uninstalling norton anti-virus and downloading/buying Mcaffe antivirus or AVG. (See www.cnet.com)

I've had problems with Norton before similar to yours and it helped my computer very much to remove it. Windows also has built in firewall, which it isn't reccomended to have two firewalls running at the same time, so there's really no use for Norton other than virus protection, which can be achieved just the same using a much faster and well scripted program like AVG or Mcaffe.

Try this, and if you're still having problems, update your question and we can try to troubleshoot from there.

(Edit: These days in computer technology and age, if you're doing more than just surfing the internet or playing java games, then you will definitely sometime in the future need to update from your refurbished system, as they usually have motherboards and front/leftside buses of very poor quality. With only 1.04ghz CPU and 512mb memory, if you're playing just about any popular game out, they are now requiring most a minimum of 2.0ghz+, and some even 3.2ghz or more. You can get great deals on 64bit comps now, I got my system (3.5ghz AMD Athlon, ATI Radeon200 integrated bus) for only $300 and it runs great. Just something to think about for the future if you plan to be using your computer for anything more than the forementioned.

Good day :)

Answer 2

It sounds like there is an application that will not shut down correctly when you power down. Try hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL when it is in shutdown mode and see what is still running. Try to end the processes, when you find what will not shut down, you have found the problem application.

Answer 3

take it to the repair shop if most of the help from the answer does not work

Answer 4

maybe your computer is has a virus in it/

Answer 5

Maybe SHODAN has some thing to do with it.....

Answer 6

go to yahoo