Laptop won't power off.

[vfaulkner]

What would cause a fairly new, under 1 year, laptop to stop turning off? It is running oem Vista.
It might hang/ freeze, and need rebooting. Or, if Start- Turn Off Computer is used, it shows Windows is shutting down, blank screen, but still continues to run, so the power button must be pressed, even after 15-20 mins. Whenever turning the machine back on, the Safe Mode options appear.
I have checked most of the usual suspects, I think.
-I created a new Recovery point and backed up documents, just in case.
-I have made sure that virus and firewall programs are updated and running with no infections.
-I have cleared cache and temp files, of which there many.
-I downloaded and installed all pertinent Win updates.

The Bios didn't tell me anything unusual.

Any other tips or advice would greatly appreciated!

[SteveGerencser]

Usually this is a hung driver issue..

Did you add a piece of hardware between when it worked last and now??

[vfaulkner]

Not anything new. Tried to use with and without the printer plugged, with same effect. Would disconnecting thumb drives improperly cause this kind of issue?

[Modified]

A quick way to shut it down is to unplug the power cord and unplug the battery. That won't shut down windows but will turn the laptop off and disconnect whatever process is preventing it from shutting down. When you turn it back on, do a full anti-virus scan and run a system diagnostics check on the hard drive.

[chandrika]

If by thumb drive you mean same as a memory stick, one of the usb drives you plug in...I did once have a problem after removing the drive without clicking on the "safely remove hardware" button in system tray, so I know it definitely can mess stuff up if you do that.

It actually wiped my entire hard drive somehow, this was some years ago and I have since removed such drives by just pulling from the usb, when i forget, with no problem...but like i say, it did once cause me a problem, so it could well have been that if you did that. I dont know why sometimes its ok to do that sometimes not.

Back it all up while its still on if i were you, just in case....

[wige]

One thing I would check is your power settings, specifically the power button setting - with Vista, it is possible to set the power button to try to put the computer in sleep or hibernate mode, which is great, as long as your motherboard supports it. If your motherboard does not support these options though, you might get a situation like what you are describing; the computer acts like it is shutting down, but continues running because the motherboard does not know how to go into a low power mode (for sleep) or hibernation. Also, Sleep mode can be bad because it will slowly drain the laptop if you unplug it.

(Sleep mode puts the computer in a low power mode so you can quickly restore it, the system will only pull enough power to maintain RAM, which is less than a light bulb in most cases - this should be used only on desktops or laptops that don't get unplugged, provided you have a variable-capacity power supply: Hibernate copies the RAM to the hard drive and turns the computer off - this should be used on laptops that get unplugged.)

[rfuess]

Try pushing the power button for 20 seconds. I have had issues where it seemed to turn off (black screen) - but was powered on... And I could do nothing with it. My tech support explained a trick of pushing the power button for 20 seconds and it will automatically turn off.

[weegillis]

On most systems, the power should go off in 4 seconds if you hold the power button down. But Wige makes a good suggestion: check your power configuration.

Here, let me Google that for you: power configuration in vista - Google Search (http://www.google.ca/search?q=power+configuration+in+vista)

This interesting one comes up:

Link: Little Miss Enviro Geek : Comprehensive list of Vista Power Management resources... (http://blogs.technet.com/lmeg/archive/2008/06/26/comprehensive-list-of-vista-power-management-resources.aspx)

If you have a ghost in the machinery that's caused by some malware or virus, it may have already disabled your local scanners. I haven't run into this for so long I could be way off here:

Go to your favorite AV site and download everything you need for a system scan from them using a different computer (a clean one, I suspect). Be sure to get all the latest signatures. Put everything on a memory stick, or if your machine supports it, a floppy disk. Possibly, you might be able to burn it to a disk. In the case of CD, you might have to boot into Safe Mode, insert disk and run from there. For floppy or thumb drive insert disk or stick before turning the power on so the machine sees it first.

You will find all the instructions you need on the vendor's site, one would hope.

There is a possibility that you might be able to connect to an online scan (Safe Mode with Network), that would be optimal, in terms of ease. This sort of scan is a good plan if you can find one that does the job.

Be sure to set your power configuration before you resume normal use, just to be sure this possibility is removed from the list of possible problems.

[Orion]

If it's < 1 year old I'd be calling the manufacturer! It's still under warranty..

Make sure you check their site for any driver updates and bios updates though, that can sometimes help...

Formatting has helped me in the past, but not on something < 1 year old... go to the builder for that.

Best of luck and if you find out the cause be sure to pass it along for the rest of us, thanks!

[Doc]

Vicki-

I had a similar problem on my Dell laptop, and it turned out to be a defective .dll file that hung things up, when the system was saving the configuration upon shutdown. A Dell tech helped me identify it, and I just reinstalled my XP right over the existing installation...effectively just a "repair", so that I didn't have to reinstall any updates.
It seems logical that Vista could have the same sort of thing happen. If you have telephone tech support available, you might try calling them, and if you get a sharp tech, he might be able to save you a lot of lost time, sending it in for service.

Good luck, and let us know what you find out.

[Peter]

It happens due to various munging of the OS, often you can spend far longer diagnosing why it happens, than just reinstalling.

Check out MS and search for Vista shutdown problem/slow, and you will see a whole load of things it could be related to.

You may also be getting error message in the event viewer, check there for messages.

However whenever I get a PC doing this, i just reinstall because I can get it up and running in 2-3 hours, researching and finding the right fix has always taken me longer.

[nickoran]

It happens due to various munging of the OS, often you can spend far longer diagnosing why it happens, than just reinstalling.

Check out MS and search for Vista shutdown problem/slow, and you will see a whole load of things it could be related to.

You may also be getting error message in the event viewer, check there for messages.

However whenever I get a PC doing this, i just reinstall because I can get it up and running in 2-3 hours, researching and finding the right fix has always taken me longer.

I have to agree, usually it is faster to re-install everything, as long as you've made backups and have all the software you need. usually a re-install helps clear a lot of your computer up too.

[wige]

Go to your favorite AV site and download everything you need for a system scan from them using a different computer (a clean one, I suspect). Be sure to get all the latest signatures. Put everything on a memory stick, or if your machine supports it, a floppy disk. Possibly, you might be able to burn it to a disk. In the case of CD, you might have to boot into Safe Mode, insert disk and run from there. For floppy or thumb drive insert disk or stick before turning the power on so the machine sees it first.
Very good tip. Only two things I would add - first, burning to a CD should be the preferred method for installing the AV software, because if you use a memory stick the malware could copy itself into a file on the memory stick and infect the next computer you connect the stick to. Second, before burning the executable, rename the file. Some malware will analyze the names of executables and prevent known antivirus installers from running, even in safe mode. Renaming the file is one way to circumvent this.

[anarchy666]

I use a free program called NetTools which can be used to power down a computer.

[vfaulkner]

Thanks everybody for the input! I changed the power options and made sure the updates were installed. The computer now shuts down just fine.
:-)

[vfaulkner]

An update...
The computer worked fine for a day, then the same issues began again.
Since I did everything that I knew to do, other than a reinstall, I took it to the store where it was bought with the warranty in hand. Found out that the problem was a broken power button connection to the motherboard.
Fixed and returned in a few days.

Thanks again!

[alphaomega]

An update...
The computer worked fine for a day, then the same issues began again.
Since I did everything that I knew to do, other than a reinstall, I took it to the store where it was bought with the warranty in hand. Found out that the problem was a broken power button connection to the motherboard.
Fixed and returned in a few days.

Thanks again!

I was hardware engineer for years and found that even most technicians were beaten by laptops. The problem with laptops is, the power is never really switched of because the battery is attached and keeps the motherboard alive, including memory. If laptops start behaving erratically, remove the battery for couple of minutes. You find it cures many evils. This way it clears all memory (RAM) from errors accumulated over long periods of time. I personally suggest to do this every week. Hope this helps you.