computer will not power off

Computer Forum General Hardware
1

This is a strange problem and I have been searching on the internet for days without much of a lead.

For the last few weeks my system will not power down, ever. I tell it to shutdown and all I get is a blank screen and a solid HDD light. When I push the power button it just reboots, even when holding down the power button (which should shutdown after 3 seconds). The only way to power off is to shutdown the surge protector.

What I have done so far:
Cleaned out the dust…no change
Upgrade the BIOS to newest version…no change
Scan for viruses…no viruses and no change
spinRITE level 4 HDD diagnostic…no errors and no change

My hardware:
Athlon XP 2000+
Shuttle AN35-ultra MOBO (nforce2)
1 GB DDR 266
80 GB ATA system drive
EIO 680 ATA RAID w/ 2x160 GB HDD in RAID 1
SoundBlaster audigy2/ZS
NVIDIA gforce FX 5600 ultra

System is running desktopBSD 1.0

I don’t believe that this is a software problem because everything worked fine until a few weeks ago, it just stopped shuting down. I did not install anything different or new to cause this.

Thanks for any help. I can post more info if needed.

2

Can you shutdown in the safemode?

3

I have tried to shutdown in system mode but no difference.

4

Did you download something or update something(Win/driver Update) or installed something when this thing start occuring?

Edit: Also check your event viewer in the software and hardware both. Copy and paste the errors if there is any.

5

no there were no new things installed or modified when this started happening. It just ‘started’ happening. Thats when I cleaned out the dust and checked my connectors.

6

oops! sorry I misread your windows…I dont know anything about desktopBSD. But somebody else can give you some help.

7

there may be some background program still running..chek with the task manager if theres any weird processes…the last option however,i would suggest is to back up ur files..n re-install windows from scratch…

8

Although it is possible that something is running in the background, I’m sure that this is not the issue.

I have tried to shutdown using a frenzy 1.0 liveCD and kubuntu 6.06 liveCD and neither will work. This tells me that it is not the operating system, although it could be a bad boot sector or MBR on my main HDD. I don’t know how to check.

9

Could this be a boot sector problem? How would I fix it? :cramp:

cheers

10

OK, I unplugged the power switch leads from the motherboard thinking that maybe the switch is bad but the system still powers up when I turn on the surge protector.

:mad:

WTF? I will put a backup power supply in and see if that does anything.

11

Check your memory by using [link=http://www.memtest86.com/]MemTest86 V3.2[/link] and see if it comes with any error.
Let it go overnight…

12

Memory checks out fine.

13

Hmm, check the APM (advanced power management) settings in the computer’s BIOS. Disable power management completely, look for settings such as ‘wake computer at modem signal’ and disable them. Does that make any difference?

14

Yes I have messed with the APM settings and the like. Doesn’t make a difference. Also the bios resets itself often because I have to shutdown improperly everytime. So I just ‘load optimized defaults’ when it does that. I just broke down and reinstalled my OS to see if that works.

I thought that I had a backup power supply to test out but it isn’t compatible with my mobo. Doh!

15

That sounds more like a duff CMOS battery to me

Can you explain in a little more detail exactly what happens when you press shutdown on the OS you are using

16

Removed my PSU and had it tested. Powers just fine but stayed on when unplugged from the PSU tester.

Problem solved. I bought a new Works 450w PSU. Runs like a champ. :cool:

17

That’s quite a bizarre failure for a PSU.

18

that’s what you get with cheap parts. I think I payed $25 USD for it two years ago and it was supposed to be a 500W supply.