Russ wrote:
>It will not shut down, but insists on restarting.>>


The most likely explanation is that a piece of software which is "hooked" 
into Windows Explorer is not closing properly. This will cause Explorer to 
crash before shutdown is completed. By default, XP will then reboot itself.

The procedure to test this is to run Msconfig, click the startup tab, 
untick ALL startup programs, then let it reboot.

Run Task Manager (Ctrl/Alt/Del) to ensure that only the bare essentials are 
running (manually close whatever you can if necessary).

Now see if it will shut down normally. If so, then you know it's one of the 
startups that is causing the problem.

Bad drivers can also be the cause of slow booting or bad shutdowns. To 
check if this is the problem, disconnect all hardware such as printers, 
scanners, etc, then go into Device Manager and uninstall all their drivers. 
Hopefully, you'll have all the install disks for these.

Sound cards can also cause these problems. Run Control Panel/Sounds, and 
disable ALL event sounds. This used to be a common W98 shutdown problem, 
less likely with XP.

Don Penlington

                         PCBUILD's List Owners:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                        Mark Rode<[log in to unmask]>