It is Now Safe to Turn Off Your Computer? ACPI Problem?

Howdy,
Remember that screen you would get when you would shutdown your computer that says: "it is now safe to turn off your computer." I recently reinstalled the OS on my computer, and there were few odd things it did. Though, this thread is about my shutdown issue. After I reinstalled my OS I have to manually turn off my computer when I shtdown. I currently have another OS on my system, it does not have this issue. Could this be because I had ACPI disabled in my BIOS when I installed the OS?

The OS with the issue is Windows XP Media Center Edition. The OS without the issue is Windows XP Professional. Both OSes have SP2 installed.

 

Its not really an ACPI problem, its an "ACPI is missing" problem.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810903

 

I figured that was the problem. Windows did not detect an ACPI compliant system when I installed it. So the HAL is non-ACPI compliant. I tried to upgrade the HAL but the only options I get are:

• MPS Uniprocessor PC
• MPS Multiprocessor PC
• Standard PC

All of these are non-ACPI compliant. I need the "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC" or the "ACPI Uniprocessor PC" HAL. To find out which one I need, I will boot in to my XP Pro OS. Then I will find a way to upgrade to the one I need.

This page explains the HAL:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309283

 

if it doesn't give you the option, its probably because your machine doesn't support the acpi specification, or does not support it properly.

 

No, that's not it. It supports the ACPI specification.This problem only exsists because I had the ACPI disabled in my BIOS when I installed my OS. My other OS has an ACPI HAL. The ACPI just isn't then driver database on my new OS.

 

Ah, wish you had explained that earlier. A repair install of the OS should switch the HAL to ACPI automatically, once its enabled in your BIOS. Attempting to do so manually is likely to screw up your installation.

 

I think I will do that, it will solve some other problems, too. I've never had reason to do a repair install before. Will it interfere with settings and installed programs among other things?

 

It shouldn't. Some applications may stop working if they require certain updates within Windows, which, once you install those updates again (a repair removes them), should start functioning again.

 

Thanks for the help. The repair install solved the ACPI and other problems.