Automatic Restart After Shutdown

[Gregoryl]

As my title says, my Windows XP system restarts itself again whenever I shut down. I don’t know why it is happening but as a work around I disabled the automatic start up as well from Control Panel > System > Startup & Recovery but yet the same thing, whenever I go to start and click shutdown, it restarts again. Please let me get rid of this problem.

[rmducks]

I had the same system couple of months ago but in my case it was Network Adapters. I got to know this after a week of research on web and 4 times re-installation of the system. Finally I realized that my both computers using Asus Motherboards and are connected with Marvell Ethernet GigaBit adapters. What did was I went to Device Manager and clicked on Network Adapter. Clicked on Advanced Tab and found the option for Wake-up on shutdown. Simply changed its settings to OFF and now theres no problem.

So, Is your system connected on any network ? if yes, there are possibilities any network device or system was having access to start up your pc network traffic is detected. Ensure the same. Another reason behind this could be some settings enabled in BIOS for Automatic Start On. You will need to check for the same as well.

[mihir.vinchhi]

In my case there was a setting in BIOS that was restarting the system back again on shutdown and the only way to turn off was to unplugg. But after altering the settings in BIOS every thing is fixed. you must check yours too.

Hope this would help...

Mihir Vinchhi

[rosamundwo]

I got some help from a forum, they told me to rename a file called CDRALW2K.SYS because the problem was Wake on LAN. I renamed that file and that solved the problem in a minute. I gues sit could help you as well. If you don’t know where is this file and how to rename it, here’s how :

Open device manager, select network Adapters, click on Marvell Yukon PCI-Fast Ethernet Controller.
Right click and click properties.
Go to Powermanagement and deselect the option “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” .
Now go to Advanced tab and turn off “Wake from shut down”.
Change the “Wake up capabilities” to “None”.
Press OK and close.

Another think you can do is restart the system, keep hitting F2.
Select the Main Tab and disable Network Boot.
Save and restart again.

That’s it.

[starbrightblue22]

I have tried everything on this page and my comp still restarts after shutdown this didnt start till I had a new video card installed took it back to computer tech that installed it and he cant find a reason for it either any help??

[suman198]

If you have tried every thing like changing the BIOS settings or changing the registry value of autoreboot.exe or uncheck the option auto restart then why not you try this one.
May be you are an Internet user so scan your system32 folder with any latest antivirus.May be winlogon.exe or shutdown.exe is corrupted by any trozan....!

[rherber1]

I'm glad you posted this solution because I have suddenly been plagued with this annoying restart after shutdown syndrome. I had not loaded new software or added new hardware recently and BIOs was up to date and this just came on gradually over 3 days. I tried all the recommended fixes and the results seemed to work for a day or two before suddenly returning with a vengeance. The only way I can shut down my computer is to pull the plug but then that stuffs up the next startup and the mobo won't pass the POST (several beeps from mobo sounder). I have now decided that it might be caused by a power supply failing as well. Will report back when analyzed.

[rherber1]

Update on PSU diagnosis:

This PSU Antec Truepower 380 is definitely faulty as evidenced by 3 electrolytic capacitors with tell-tale bulging cans. When removed for testing all 3 exhibited high ESR (my capacitor test instrument is a tan-delta cap tester and it doesn't actually display readings in terms of resistance but the result is effectively the same).

This particular PSU by Antec is made specifically to mount internally in the Antec desktop case used in my PC and it doesn't have the power input connector accessible from the outside of the PC case. Since I couldn't just replace it with a generic type readily available from many sources I would have to repair the PSU. A 500W generic PSU on hand had the power input connector and the output cables in the wrong locations to suit the PC case.

As many of you who have tried to repair computer PSU's will know the electrolytic capacitors used are inavariably of a size rarely available from your parts supplier and this was the case here. One capacitor was 3300uF/10V with diameter 10mm and height 30mm (brand Fuhjyyu type TMR) while 2 others were Teapo 1000uF/10V 8mm x 15mm.

While dismantled I also found another Fuhjyyu 47uF/50V cap without a bulging can but it also exhibited a high tan-delta. This brand is definitely not one I had heard of before but I was beginning to become suspicious of the quality of this brand. A quick Google revealed this link which indicates others have had similar problems with this PSU. It seems that I was in possession of a PSU of dubious quality. Testing of other Fuhjyyu caps indicated a higher than expected tan-delta even though the measured value was only just on the high side. I decided to replace all Fuhjyyu caps.

While searching for suitable replacements I quickly discovered caps of the physical dimensions required were definitely not easy to locate. The only supplier with suitable types in their catalogue was RS Components and some values were only stocked in the UK so I would have to wait 6 - 8 days for delivery. I have placed an order and I am currently awaiting delivery.

[rherber1]

I decided I couldn't wait for the parts to arrive for the Antec PSU so I decided to transplant the pcb from the generic 500W PSU into the Antec Truepower 380 case. I had to extend the mains input wires between the IEC input socket and the L and N holes on the board and also the AUX +12V cable so that it would reach the motherboard socket.

After cleaning the dust out of every fan and cleaning down the LGA 775 pentium 4 chip and replacing the heat conducting compound I rebuilt the computer with the transplanted PSU. When I powered it up I was pleased to see that the BIOS had noted that the CPU had been removed so I had to reload optimized defaults again. After saving and exiting the PC fired up as good as new.

I would offer my recommendation that if your PC has been running fine for ages and you haven't made any hardware or software changes immediately prior to these symptoms appearing, but it starts rebooting automatically intermittently at shutdown, you should suspect your PSU before anything else.

I still intend to repair the Antec PSU. Despite it having a rating of only 380W compared to the 500W of the board from the generic PSU, it has more and bigger filter capacitors and the heatsinks are much larger than the generic unit. I doubt very much that the generic unit should be rated much more than 250 - 300W. However, it will do until I repair the Antec using Panasonic electrolytics.

[Fatalbullet]

Automatic Restart After Shutdown

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I've solved my problem with this registry tweak:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Edit the key PowerOffActive and give it a value of 1
You can do the same in HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

[Jedi Night]

Hi. I was encountering a problem with my desktop PC, where it kept restarting whenever I tried to shutdown. After suspecting everything from motherboard, BIOS, PSU to installed software, and after trying out several OS and BIOS settings in vain, I found a solution at the following URL that got pretty close to resolving the problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320299

Here's the most relevant extract from the URL above: "If your computer constantly restarts while you are using it, or if you are trying to shut down the computer after it has stopped unexpectedly, click to clear the Automatically restart check box. If you clear this check box, you receive an error message when the computer stops responding. This error message may describe the cause of the problem. You can also review the system log in Event Viewer to view the critical stop error that occurs when the computer restarts."

This method does not completely resolve the problem, but gets you close to figuring out where exatcly the problem is (which is the stage that I'm at now). And most importantly, it will stop restarting the PC incessantly! Hope this helps.