[el_vago32]

when "try" to shutdown my pc in windows xp professional, its stops responding in rhe "windows is shutting down" screen
please i really need help here cause i'm worry about my hard disk's life. this is my computer description:
m-board asus a7v133
amd athlon @ 1.3
case atx
3 dimm @ 128 mb, pc100
hope somebody can help me out...

[Rayden911]

Got anything hooked to usb port?? If there is try unplugging it first then try shut down.

[Sampson]

This kind of thing happens often because some task or program running in the background will not flush out to let XP close properly. Often this task is in your tray.

Experiment 1
If you wish to find the culprit, you could bring up your task manager - Ctrl-Shift-ESC and shutdown the tasks for programs in your tray. Often it is the sound drivers that are the problem. Then, shut down the machine. When it shuts all the way down as it is supposed, you will have found out which background task will not release. This is tedious so onto

Experiment 2
XP has a command line shutdown program. These are the two lines you can type into the Run command to see if they will work for you:
To RESTART Windows XP: SHUTDOWN -r -t 01
To SHUT DOWN Windows XP: SHUTDOWN -s -t 01
If these work for you create a shortcut Called Restart and another shortcut called Shutdown and put these lines into the Commands of the shortcuts. The -t 01 means one second, so you can put -t 10 for ten seconds or whatever your want. You can find out all the parameters of XP's shutdown by typing Shutdown / ? at the Run command.

However, this won't necessarily turn your computer off when it shuts down. It will just take you to the C:\ prompt or a screen to say you can turn it off. Try this shutdown program at this website: http://www.budja.com/shutdown/

Others I have heard about but not tried are:
http://www.smartline.ru/software/asd.zip
http://www.rjlsoftware.com/software/utility/
http://www.winutility.com/qsd/
Hope this helps