Turns itself off

Hi,

I'm running XP Pro SP3 on a Core2Duo E6600 machine. I'm the only user, and I only use it for work. The last few days, when I turn on the computer, it reaches the screen that says XP on it and then it dies. WHen I reboot, I get the "Improperly shut down" screen. Yesterday I chose to boot into safe mode, which it did without problem. I ran 3 up-to-date virus scans and a spyware scan--clean. I rebooted and it was fine. Today the same thing happened. But it wouldn't reboot from safe mode and stay on until the third try. It always dies at exactly the same point in the sequence, just after showing me the XP screen. If it can get past that, it is fine all day and night. No issues at all, no heat or voltage spikes. I'd say it was my power supply, but that seems to be fine otherwise. I don't have another to swap out.

I haven't added any new hardware or software, and my OS system updates aren't automatic, so they haven't happened in the last few days. I haven't done ANYTHING differently. The system is clean, cords well connected, 3 fans turning properly. CPU temps 35-39C, voltages stable. (Silverstone Zeus 560 watt power supply). I work as an editor, so I'm opening a lot of tabs, but that's the hardest I ask it to work. I really need this computer for wark, so if it has to be the power supply, I'll buy another--I just want to make sure it isn't something else in the boot process first. Any ideas? Thanks for listening!

 

Try a different power supply and see if it does the same thing, even if that means ordering one through Newegg.com or hitting up BestBuy if you have one where you live.

 

Could be driver related. If you can get to safe mode then it suggests that it is something that Windows is loading when booting into normal mode. Can you ever boot into normal mode or is it always re-starting. Do you get any BSODs or error message?

 

The last two times I've booted, I've gotten into safe mode by having it die and then give me the "Failed to properly shut down" screen on the second or third try, and selecting it from there. The machine has been running for the last two days-- I had 8 hourse of work today so I just put it to sleep last night. It has been running without any problems, woke up just fine. It seems to me that there is something wrong in the booting process. I can't boot up on the first try without it dying at the XP screen. Always at the same spot. At first it would boot if I selected normal from that screen, then it started dying at the same spot that way too. How do I check the boot up process?

 

Difficult to say really. The problem is that when you successfully boot, whatever is causeing the problem is not present, when it is present you cant boot. If you get a BSOD you could upload the mini dump. I personally believe that it is software related rather than hardware related. although i cant be 100% I would be tempted to back up and re-install. simply because it can be done in about an hour and to diagnose and fix could take days.

 

Not sure how to do that. I've never made a complete back-up, and I'd be reinstalling from an XP-SP1 disk. (Wouldn't the back-up have the same problem software?)

 

YOu only backup files to an external disk. The xp disk will reformat your disk and re-intall. once you have re-installed OS and software you can cop[y your files back on

 

Seems like ther should be a way to look at the boot process first. I know booting in diagnostic mode wipes the restore points, what about setting it to boot in safe mode? (From the msconfig screen)?

 

Like I say, you can get boot information but it wont tell you what the problem is because when you get it to boot there is no problem. Unkess it BSODs on you you are not going to fin any usful ino.

 

No BSOD, but I did get this from Event Viewer:

The following boot-start or system-start drivers failed to load:
AFD
Ehdr
Efwtdi
Fips
Intelppm
IPSec
MRxSmb
NetBIOS
NetBT
RasAcd
SASDIFSV
SASKUTIL
Tcpip
WS2IFSL


The IPSEC Services depends on the IPSEC driver service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.


The TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service depends o n the AFD service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.


The DNS Client service depends on the TCP/IP Protocol Driver service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.


The DHCP Client service depends on the NetBios over Tcpip service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.
--------
So how to determine which device? Device manager shows everything working properly.

 

Sounds like a network adapter issue. Are you using the onboard NIC or an external one?

 

Onboard --the system is hardwired to the cable, not wireless. Motherboard is: INTEL BOXDP965LTCK P965.

 

I just found something out--not sure if it has any bearing on anything. My husband says he went to print something "the other day"-- not sure if this was before or after the problem started. He plugged in his thumb drive, printed his letter, then went to eject the drive. He had two choices: F or G. He chose G, but apparently that wasn't the drive (he decided to check and make sure by looking at "my computer.") Apparently the right one was F, so he then ejected that one and took out his thumb drive. Now I'm looking at what My Computer says "removable drive G" was-- it's showing "ST3320620AS" the same model number as my local disk, C, only it shows it as having no available space and no space used. I don't know what that means or what "ejecting" it can do, if anything. I would think it would just read it as present the next time it turned on...?

 

Can you look in Device Manager and see if there are any ! or X conflicts?

 

Yes, I did that first. Everything looks fine in Device Manager.

 

the eject would be undone on restart.

 

Try taking a look in the event viewer and see if there are any failures logged in the boot up process. Any services that may be failing to start or a driver that is intermittently failing to start. It could be you have another piece of hardware that is starting to get flakey. I do not think it is your PSU,

 

Icsmith39 -- yes, see above a few posts to 09-14-11 19:18--I listed everything event viewer showed. It IS drivers/services that are failing to load because "A device attached to the system isn't functioning." The thing is, I don't have anything attached except a usb hard drive that has been there forever. Nothing has been added or removed. I do have a virus program that updates (Eset NOD32) but that's it. I am not exactly sure when this started--my husband said he turned on the computer for me, but it wasn't on, didn't think anything of it, just turned it on. Same thing happened the next day. On the third day, when it got to the "Windows was not shut down properly screen upon reboot" I went into safe mode to run virus and spyware scans--nothing. (I don't surf much with this machine, just work on it, use Firefox as a browser.) I've been putting it to sleep instead of turning it off because I need it for work.

 

Also--once it boots, everything works fine and normally. All the plugs are fine. Nothing has been moved. I haven't used the machine to do anything but work--haven't even burned a disk. Work involves reading word files and logging onto the company system, which I always do and where no one has had any problems.

 

try the HD, can you boot from a disc of some type?

 

Sorry I missed that part . Okay, so you do have a driver that is failing to load then? And you say you have nothing else attached. Does it say what specific driver is failing to load? Because once you eliminate all external devices attached to the motherboard, what you have left are internal devices built in to your motherboard. If one of the drivers for one of these devices are failing to load, this could point to your overall problem. Meaning your motherboard is starting to fail and thus the computer is acting flakey. Just a little food for thought.

 

It's these boot-start or system-start drivers that failed to load:
AFD
Ehdr
Efwtdi
Fips
Intelppm
IPSec
MRxSmb
NetBIOS
NetBT
RasAcd
SASDIFSV
SASKUTIL
Tcpip
WS2IFSL

It says that the reason most of them failed to load is: A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The only devices I have attached is an external hard drive that I've had for a year, rarely use and works fine. I have two DVD drives and a floppy drive that haven't been used in a long time, but work fine. Keyboard, mouse. I don't know what else is considered a "device" but nothing is showing as not working. Chkdsk isn't coming up with anything either.

 

Sorry, Rocktot - to answer you too--My son has my disk, so it isn't handy. Would that tell me if it were the hard drive? Would I just put it in the drive and turn the computer on? I think the BIOS is set to boot from a disk, but not sure how/when to get that disk in there!!

 

Hmm, Interesting. I know you said you ran a virus scan and a spyware scan and came up clean. But it almost sounds like you have a rootkit that has installed it self. I can not be sure but it is possible....You say you log into your works system, are you going through a vpn or are you logging in straight to a website? I see two things that you say are not loading that are important for a secure connection. One of them is IPsec and the other is RasAcd. I know Ras stands for remote access service but I am not sure what the acd is for. The two drivers that start with SAS are for serial attached storage. Netbios is nothing as is Netbt. The other acronyms would require research as to just what they are. Isn't trouble shooting fun

 

I tried loking them up too - they're all drivers/services that should be loading. I've run scans with updated versions of Eset NOD32, MAMB, Super Antispyware and Spysweeper. Nothing. I log on to a website to work, but no one else is having any problems. We're just a bunch of editors and the sites we visit are newspaper/media sites that are safe. If this is a virus, it's completely undetectable. One thing I noticed is that if it boots then fails, then I boot to safe mode and let it run for a while, I can get it to boot on the second or so try after that. I don't know if that's significant. I've been putt ingit to sleep instead of turning it off and this morning it had turned itself off in the night. So it seems that whatever is going wrong is getting progressively worse - but that might just be coincidence.

 

After some further consideration, I am thinking two things, either your power supply is putting out some unstable voltage, or your motherboard itself is getting flakey and is degenerating slowly. It is either that or your operating system has some how become unstable. Have you tried a system restore back to before you started to have these problems?

 

Can you just try to plug in the HD normally, without the USB?

 

To be explicit, you only back up your files that you have copied from elsewhere or created yourself.

Most of the programs which were installed you will have to install afresh after you have re-installed OS

You can back up using a Windows program which will create a back up folder in the place where you want it (I think - I have never done this so I am writing from a vague memory, and this is an XP memory). I once backed up by using a diskcopy - an identical replica of the disk I was backing up, this will guarantee you get absolutely everything, then you can copy back the files that you need: if you you had written some to an unexpected place and later found that you needed them, well, you'd still have them. It won't work for programs you have installed because these mess with registry, which is not usually affected by 'copy' or 'recover from backup' or whatever that's called.

That is the case isn't Tueur ?

You tell I have been lazy about making regular backups ! :-o

Dumb_Question
22.September.2011

Compaq Presario S5160UK (DT261A) (Celeron 2.7 GHz) MSI MS-6577 v2.1 XP/SP3