My freak computer.

[Szech]

Wondering if anyone can help me out. I have a Pentium II 400 on a 440BX with softoff running Win 98, and everytime I turn off the power supply (not the button in front, the switch in back), or unplug it, it'll take me about 18 reboots before it'll stop freezing. Safe mode works, but nothing else does.

Here's the freak part. Once it does boot properly, it'll work perfectly until I unplug it or turn off the power supply again.

[Axel]

Lets take a look at the beginning of the problem to see what the root cause is and fix that.

It sounds to me like you are having trouble waiting for the system to shut down properly, or it hangs on the win98 shutdown screen and never does, prompting you to cut the power to a system designed with a graceful power-down/sleep requirement.

So - you've got a software conflict going on there hanging the soft power-down process.

So - we look at what is running in your task list before you decide to shut down - identify everything running there, decide what it is you don't need, keep the junk from running, and the issue should go away - 85% chance, in my experience.

So - pull up a task list and send us back a list of everything you have running on the system just before shut-down. We'll help you identify the listings. You have the best set of eyes right there- find the *.exe files generating the task list listings and do a right click - properties on them to find what application they might belong to.

Also - we'll need to know if you've flashed the motherboard BIOS lately.

Any other funny circumstances you've noticed before this happens. HD noise, the monitor flashes briefly, a new icon appears in the systray, you haven't done a virus scan or a scandisk/defrag in the last year..... stuff like that...

So - stop focusing on the reboots after forcing the system to power-down improperly, and focus on what stopped the system from a proper shutdown.

You or this board will figure it out soon enough.

[This message has been edited by Axel (edited 01-28-2000).]

[Szech]

Whuf, sorry, I probably wasn't clear enough. It always gets to the "It's now safe to shut down your computer," then in about a second, it'll power itself down. I never have to hit the power supply to turn it off. Likewise, the soft-on works fine.

The problem comes when I actually cut off the power source (unplug the computer or turn the power supply off). After I do this, Windows will freeze while it's loading (the little bar at the bottom will be moving slow, slower, then stops). I'll reboot, safe mode, diagnose, reboot, freeze, cuss, reboot, safe mode, cuss, etc. After so many reboots (between 2 and 30), it'll finally decide to boot under normal mode (safe mode works without a hitch). Once it boots in normal mode, it'll work without any problems (softoff included) until the next time I unplug it.

I'll post the task list when I get back to my apartment, but I doubt that's the problem, because I've reduced tasks down to Explorer/Systray to burn CDs, and it would still give me that problem.

As for flashing the BIOS, that is something I have never done (I know, I know), because I can't find the matching one for my BIOS. I went to some page that wanted to charge me something like $100, pssshhh... might as well buy a new mobo.

Can't be a virus / fragmentation problem, because out of desparation I once reinstalled EVERYTHING, down to taking out the battery to clear the BIOS. No funny noises, or flashes, or anything else when I power down.

I even tried underclocking, thinking I might have bought a remarked CPU (though that wouldn't explain my problems).

Thanks for your help, I'll put up the task list ASAP.