computer on/off switch?

Question

Regarding the power on/off button on the pc. I assumed it was a mechanical shut off which can interupt the computer at any time you decide to shut it off.
Mine no longer shuts down the pc(even if I do the windows shut down procedure to the end). Let me be clear here, I have a switch on the outside of my pc on the case, some pc's have a switch in the back or on the side which must be turned on to get the computer to power up.
THAT IS THE CONTROL I AM REFERRING TO.How in blazes have I lost the control to shut it down?

The button does works, for I can shut down the pc when it is in the early stages of loading up(the pc maker stuff prior to windows), but once it starts loading Windows, manually being able to switch it off is no longer possible.

In order for me to shut off my pc now, I have to pull the plug.

Anybody ever experience this?

Am running Windows XP Pro

Oh, there is NO spyware,adware trojans,mickey mouses or anything like that. I am clean that way. Paranoidally.
Prior to this problem with the power off switch.....I was running a "rootkit hook" checker. Ran it all night, and was'nt it wasn't finished. So I shut down some of the other applications that were running on my machine at the same time.....not the antivirus though, to gain some more ram speed (I had 19 running - so I took things out like Quicktime, and a few others)bringing it down to 12 or so, which did not help. So, I turned the machine off with the start button and then powered off the machine with the switch.

Answer 1

You probably have a virus. Did you install antivirus and spyware remover? If you didn't your screwed. You'd need a new computer.

Answer 2

Is it a toggle switch (or rocker)? If it is it should be hard wired into the power supply to kill all electricity to the computer an there is no way that this could be bypassed unless there is an electrical short somewhere. If it is a momentary switch (the kind you push down and it pops right back up) then it is probably tied into the motherboard. This kind of switch can be programmed (so to speak) to react differently when it is pressed. If this is the switch you have I would check your power options. Good Luck

Answer 3

I dont think there is anything wrong with your computer, you simply have an ATX power supply. If you hold down the power button for about 5 seconds or so, you should see your PC automatically initiate the Windows Shutdown procedure. You can specify how you want windows to react when the power button is pressed (in your Power Options in the control panel).

Answer 4

System restore. Use that feature on your computer to go back in time before the problem occurred. It should correct it. I believe you may have had some sort of virus or something because I had that problem for a while and it was because of a virus.

Answer 5

I agree with reggie i had the same thing on my laptop thing is i had to wait for battery to run out lol avg free sortrd mine out i had 154 bad trjans in my pc i think it was from metacafe so try it and i think i kept my finger on the button for a while and it went off so goodluck

Answer 6

i agree, bad virus's & spyware could very well be the cause, if you have programs run them, if computer won't let you boot in to safe mode to do it F8.
need programs:
AVG for virus
spybot search & destroy safer-networking.org
superantispyware http://superantispyware.com
make sure all updates done,or aleast run them once then do updates then run again.
www.snapfiles.com freeware section, download a free registry repair, do a disk clean, do a defrag ayt least 2 times in a row. then try rebooting and see what happens

Answer 7

know i have never expeienced this but i think there is some spyware or trogan on your computer. is your computer by Hp?

Answer 8

I bet it is an HP. THIS HAPPENS TO THEM A LOT! HP cant even fix them. it is a software problem