shutdown snafu

[gibrain]

I need help realy quickly. My friend has a HP Pav. 600 PIII system running 512 MB of ram and Win ME. She says that when she goes to shut down her computer, it restarts; and when she goes to restart, it does nothing at all? What could be the problem? Microsoft doesn't obviously know.

AP

[MaviGozler]

Consider the last one or two things that were done when the Shutdown/Restart behavior was normal and just prior to it being abnormal:
* did you install a new (third-party) program? try uninstalling it and re-check behavior

Other things I might try to do:

1. Load a minimal Windows (safe-mode?) and try the behavior of Shutdown/Restart.
2. If that works, try disabling third-party programs loaded at startup (the ones that show up in the tray) and then enabling them one by one, in order of most important ones for you.
3. Scan the disk for filesystem problems (do standard, or thorough if you have more time).
4. Run one, better two, antiviral products with most recent updates to make sure things check there.

Other bizarre things I've seen that may pertain: mainboard (lithium) battery life is over; BIOS chip develops defect (although total system failure is usual)

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Mavi Gozler