Member Avatar for Fire an Ice

Ok. Win XP Pro, SP2. On asking (telling, pleading with) the computer to shut down, it goes through the usual log out and saving settings screens and then restarts. Not consistently...Oh no. About 3 in 5 shutdown attempts result in this obnoxious behaviour. I HAVEN'T got "Automatically restart on error" checked, and on Googling the problem, can't find a lot of suggestions...can anyone help please?? Much appreciated if you could.

Cheers and Beers

Fire An' Ice

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by rasputinj

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Good catch by and good troubleshooting advice from . An internal USB device (Bluetooth dongle in this case) is a classic culprit for intermittent “restart instead of power off” on XP. The usual root causes are device drivers or firmware that mis-handle the shutdown sequence, third‑party utilities that hook power events, BIOS wake/restore settings, or hardware/power faults. Stripping the system down, as suggested, is the right first move.

Quick diagnostic checklist:

  • Boot to Safe Mode (F8) and attempt a shutdown. A clean power-off there usually points to a driver/service problem.
  • Unplug all nonessential USB devices and remove internal USB modules; try shutting down after each change to isolate the device.
  • Open Event Viewer (Start -> Run -> eventvwr.msc) and inspect the System log at the shutdown time for errors or unexpected shutdown entries.
  • Turn off automatic restart on system failure so any BSOD will remain visible (System Properties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery).
  • In Device Manager, check NICs, USB controllers and mice: Properties -> Power Management — disable any “wake” options. Also disable Wake-on-LAN and USB wake in BIOS while testing.
  • Update chipset/USB/device drivers and temporarily remove third‑party power or burning utilities.
  • If nothing software-related appears, try a different outlet/PSU or remove UPS/strip to rule out power hardware issues.

When a device is identified, update its driver/firmware or move it to an external port. Recording the offending device model and driver version helps others who run into the same behavior. The thread demonstrates a textbook process: isolate hardware, check logs, update drivers, and verify BIOS power options.

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Member Avatar for Drew

Im sorry your post was confusing.

Can you word that a little different so i can understand what you are talking about?

Member Avatar for gas1883

Ok. Win XP Pro, SP2. On asking (telling, pleading with) the computer to shut down, it goes through the usual log out and saving settings screens and then restarts. Not consistently...Oh no. About 3 in 5 shutdown attempts result in this obnoxious behaviour. I HAVEN'T got "Automatically restart on error" checked, and on Googling the problem, can't find a lot of suggestions...can anyone help please?? Much appreciated if you could.

Cheers and Beers

Fire An' Ice

My mates PC does the same, when the PC shuts down, for no reason what so ever the PC re-boots itself, we too have looked on Google for solutions to this eratic behaviour but found nothing, so we would also like some assistance on this issue aswell, Thanks, gas1883.

Where is this "Automatically restart on error" box situated?

Member Avatar for nizzy1115

my old computer does this as well. sometimes i shut it off and about 10 minutes later it turns itself back on. I never found out why either. (its not a big deal for me since no body ever uses that computer, its just a mystery why it does it.)

Member Avatar for rasputinj

Take a look here if you have Roxio 5 on XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q311806

If you have a logitech trackball, search around, there was some problems in the past with the trackball I believe that would cause the problem. I have also read before about Windows Washer causing that problem.

If you run the PC in safe mode does it shut off properly?

commented: good answer +2
Member Avatar for Fire an Ice

Drew - What I was trying to ask was why my computer automatically restarts instead of shutting down? Sorry to be confusing and all :s.

However, I found the solution to my problem...The restarts were caused by the bluetooth dongle I had installed in one of the free internal USB 2.0 ports. Removed the dongle, and the machine shuts down fine.

gas1883 - The "Automatically Restart on error" is located in System properties/advanced tab/startup and recovery settings. Unchecking this will mean that if windows encounters an error, instead of getting itself into a restart cycle, it'll show you a BSOD ("And this is a good thing?" I hear you ask) with the error code displayed instead.

Thanks to Rasputinj for your suggestion...:)

Cheers and Beers

F&I

Member Avatar for rasputinj

Drew - What I was trying to ask was why my computer automatically restarts instead of shutting down? Sorry to be confusing and all :s.

However, I found the solution to my problem...The restarts were caused by the bluetooth dongle I had installed in one of the free internal USB 2.0 ports. Removed the dongle, and the machine shuts down fine.

gas1883 - The "Automatically Restart on error" is located in System properties/advanced tab/startup and recovery settings. Unchecking this will mean that if windows encounters an error, instead of getting itself into a restart cycle, it'll show you a BSOD ("And this is a good thing?" I hear you ask) with the error code displayed instead.

Thanks to Rasputinj for your suggestion...:)

Cheers and Beers

F&I

I thought it might be something like that, glad to hear you tracked it down. It is always a good idea to start stripping your system when you have problems.To help troubleshoot it.

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