XP v-e-r-y slow shutdown with SP2

[Asp]

I just installed SP2 on my Dell laptop, which had been on XP SP1.

No real problems except that shutdown, which used to take less than a minute, now takes at least 5.

It just sits on the shutdown screen, the hard disk light flickering a little, till it finally shuts down.

What is it doing? Some kind of backup?

Are there any stupid defaults I should change? (Considering the laptop is not new, A Pentium III with 256 MB RAM, flashy stuff is not what I want, just as long as it works reliably.)

[Oleg_II]

Not sure but try this: UPHClean-Setup.msi (sorry, don't have link right now, search on Google.com for UPHClean).

[Yzöwl]

Make sure that you haven't got a 'Clear pagefile at shutdown' tweak applied.

If you haven't added any registry tweaks, some programs such as SafeXP have this as an option.

The registry file to fix it is this

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000000

[Andromeda43]

I just installed SP2 on my Dell laptop, which had been on XP SP1.

No real problems except that shutdown, which used to take less than a minute, now takes at least 5.

It just sits on the shutdown screen, the hard disk light flickering a little, till it finally shuts down.

What is it doing? Some kind of backup?

Are there any stupid defaults I should change? (Considering the laptop is not new, A Pentium III with 256 MB RAM, flashy stuff is not what I want, just as long as it works reliably.)

Before XP itself can shutdown, all running programs must be closed.

You probably have way too many TSR's and Services running for a laptop with so little ram.

To run XP you should have at least 1 gig of ram. Can you add more to that laptop?

If I were doing a tuneup on your little PC, I'd shutdown all redundant services and TSR's (all those programs in your startup list in MSCONFIG. Then I'd apply the following tweaks to your registry to speed up the shutdown process.

*******************************************************************************

Decrease Shutdown Time

Cut the amount of time it takes your computer to shut down to only a few seconds.

Click Start, click Run, and type regedit.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control.

Click the Control folder.

Right click "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" and click Modify.

Set the value to 1000 (One Second)

***************************************************

Automatically Ending Non-Responsive Tasks

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \

AutoEndTasks = Set the value to 1

HungAppTimeout = Set the value to 1000

WaitToKillAppTimeout = Set the value to 1000 (One Second)

***************************************************

Create a Quick Shutdown Icon for your Desktop

This method of shutting down your PC will be much quicker than starting the process with the START button. It also forces stubborn programs to close. Create a New Shortcut on your desktop and put this line in the path box.

%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t 00 -f

Save the shortcut and you now have yourself a quick way to shutdown Windows.

On my own PC, using “Quick Shutdown”….Shutdown only takes five seconds.

********************************************************************

Give that a try and see if it helps.

Andromeda43 B)

[gosh]

How about the basics. Does it shutdown ok in safe mode?

-gosh

[Asp]

You probably have way too many TSR's and Services running for a laptop with so little ram.

To run XP you should have at least 1 gig of ram. Can you add more to that laptop?

Since this only happened after applying SP2, I don't think it can be TSRs (I thought that was a DOS thing?) or services, unless SP2 adds a bunch of those surreptitiously.

RAM would be nice, but I can't justify the cost, and again it was working fine on SP1, except for flakiness of Wireless Zero Config, which is why I did the update.

I will try your tweaks though, thanks.

UPHClean seems to have helped too.

[Asp]

Not sure but try this: UPHClean-Setup.msi (sorry, don't have link right now, search on Google.com for UPHClean).

Thanks. Takes about 10 seconds to shutdown now.

[Tarun]

You should check your System Event logs to see what was slowing the computer's shutdown process. Be sure to post it.

[Andromeda43]

Since this only happened after applying SP2, I don't think it can be TSRs (I thought that was a DOS thing?) or services, unless SP2 adds a bunch of those surreptitiously.

RAM would be nice, but I can't justify the cost, and again it was working fine on SP1, except for flakiness of Wireless Zero Config, which is why I did the update.

I will try your tweaks though, thanks.

UPHClean seems to have helped too.

I don't think it can be TSRs (I thought that was a DOS thing?)

No, a TSR has nothing to do with dos....in fact they didn't even exist in DOS.

They only exist in a multi-tasking environment, like Windows.

A TRS is a "Terminate and Stay Resident" program that usually appears as an Icon in your system tray. I've seen peoples system trays that extends half way across their screen.

Schedulers and monitors are a good example. Your AV and some active AS programs will leave an Icon there too. (like Windows Defender)

MS Messenger will run in the background and leave it's little icon in the system tray. I remove this all the time where the user doesn't even know what it is or where it came from.

If its not something you need there.....then it certainly shouldn't be there!

Of course SP2 adds more services.....think of it as a new and larger version of Windows.

Dot Net and Firewall are just two examples.

Every time you add something to Windows, like a Service Pack, the more load it places on the CPU and RAM.

The registry that has to run in ram, also takes a huge hit from a service pack.

I installed Office 2007 on my PC and it added 30% to the size of my registry. All that stuff takes up ram.

Good Luck,

B)

[Mijzelf]

No, a TSR has nothing to do with dos....in fact they didn't even exist in DOS.

They only exist in a multi-tasking environment, like Windows.

That's definitely not true. Dos has a special interrupt since version 2.0, link, to make a program able to terminate and stay resident.

Since Dos is a single tasking system, terminating a program is the only way to be able to run another. (Well, actually is is possible to load a dos shell to run another program, pausing your own). This interrupt is needed to terminate a program, but keep the code loaded in memory, to make it possible to intercept some interrupts, and add functionality this way.

In a multitasking environment this isn't necessary, since the program can just run in background, without terminating.

[Asp]

No, a TSR has nothing to do with dos....in fact they didn't even exist in DOS.

Oh, yes they did. Before Windows TSRs were a quite trendy way to multitask. I used a few -- a print cache program, for instance.

Borland's SideKick a general purpose calendaring and note-taking app, was probably the best known.

A TRS is a "Terminate and Stay Resident" program that usually appears as an Icon in your system tray. I've seen peoples system trays that extends half way across their screen.

I don't think these are properly called TSRs. They're just background processes with tray icons -- (How do they "terminate"?)

Anyway, I had the Windows firewall off before and it's still off (I use ZoneAlarm).

Whatever "service" SP2 added that didn't want to shut down, it seems UPHClean can kill it. Perhaps I'll try to work out exactly what it was, some day.

Edited October 14, 2007 by Asp

[Tarun]

Of course SP2 adds more services.....think of it as a new and larger version of Windows.

Dot Net and Firewall are just two examples.

Surprised no one caught this but your examples are wrong.

.NET Framework is totally optional, and the Firewall service. Well, that service was named Internet Connection Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing in Service Pack 1a. In Service Pack 2 it was renamed to Windows Firewall.

Every time you add something to Windows, like a Service Pack, the more load it places on the CPU and RAM.

The registry that has to run in ram, also takes a huge hit from a service pack.

I installed Office 2007 on my PC and it added 30% to the size of my registry. All that stuff takes up ram.

The entire quote segment above, can you provide legitimate sources?