XP Station reboots after shutdown

[Jan Regnier]

Not sure if this is HARDWARE or SOFTWARE issue but beginning this in Hardware:

I have one XP PRO SP3 machine that has just started rebooting after shutdown.
It starts OK, runs OK, shuts down OK but then reboots immediately after it has shutdown.
I have scanned with Sophos, Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware and come up clean with all three.
Have had no signs of issues - the Event Log is 99% clean - nothing jumping out as the cause.
I don't see any "suspecious" items in PROCESS or APPLICATIONS or in Add/Remove Program list.
There are no error messages or programs not running properly or any slow down with anything.
This machine has not had issues in the past. No virus - etc.

I have tried unchecking the Restart under the StartUp/Recovery which seemed to be the #1 suggestion to try- made no difference.  Any other suggestions would be appreciated before I have to call in a TECH to fix it!  Thanks!

[Jeff Zylstra]

From a quick Google of the situation. Some thoughts...

Maybe a service is set to "reboot on fail" and it is failing on shutdown.

BIOS setting changed or corrupted?

Corruption or a failed installation that caused the registry to insert something making it reboot instead of shutdown?

Does it do this on all users of this machines?  How about if you boot into safe mode?

Go into regedit and search for "shutdown" and look at the registry entries.  Chances are that one has been altered somehow.

I hope one of these helps.

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php

[Jan Regnier]

Thanks Jeff...I haven't installed anything on this machine so I know that's not the issue.
Does the same thing in SAFE MODE.
I will look at the registry and see what shows up.

[Jeff Golas]

I would check the bios - sounds like power management got turned off so Windows can't properly signal for it to shut off. Try loading bios defaults?

[Jan Regnier]

I would check the bios - sounds like power management got turned off so Windows can't properly signal for it to shut off. Try loading bios defaults?

Does resetting to bios defaults require resetting anything else?

[Jeff Zylstra]

I would check the bios - sounds like power management got turned off so Windows can't properly signal for it to shut off. Try loading bios defaults?

Does resetting to bios defaults require resetting anything else?

No I don't think so, other than maybe the time.  The hard drives and CD/DVD drives should automatically be recognized during the startup process, and repopulate the settings automatically.  Go for it.

[Jan Regnier]

OK - I will try it after work..if that doesn't work - then off to the tech it goes....I am of the opinion it may be a hardware issue...

[Bob]

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101011153126AAtqWOO

Some good leads in this conversation.. 

[Jan Regnier]

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101011153126AAtqWOO

Some good leads in this conversation.. 

I thought about a few of the items mentioned - haven't opened the case yet.  I will do that tonight after work and take a look-see...  I'll try the shutdown with the command prompt option too and see what happens with that.  Thanks.

[Alice]

Jan - maybe there's a minidump you can post and someone can look at? I found (finally) this and maybe something is failing at shutdown causing a restart. If this has already been suggested...apologize for the dupl.

[Jan Regnier]

I did see that info but didn't look at the report.  I will do that too after work.  Thanks.