blue screen of nothing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom Hall
  • Start date Start date
T

Tom Hall

XP Pro SP3 here.

Coincidentally or not, since installing the critical update that Microsoft
released outside of its normal update schedule before Christmas, my
computer will no longer shut down or restart by itself.

The system proceeds through the usual process until nothing is left but a
blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is still functional) - and it stops
there.

I've tried uninstalling the critical update and even uninstalled video
drivers I had previously installed to support an ATI Radeon HD 4870
graphics card I had added about a week prior to the appearance of the
problem.

Neither of these worked. The system will not power down for either a
shutdown or restart.

The system is basically an Intel system, about 4 years old now:

CPU Type Unknown, 3000 MHz (3.75 x 800)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Intel Grantsdale-G i915G/GL/GV
System Memory 2016 MB
BIOS Type AMI (04/29/05)

When the room is quiet, I can hear disk activity for a few seconds after
the screen clears, then eventually it stops. I've left the system in this
state for as long as several hours and returned to find it unchanged.

My understanding is that it's probably a hardware issue (powerdown) rather
than a software (shutdown-restart) issue, but I'm not a hardware guy so I
don't know how to troubleshoot the problem.

Any advice would be most welcome.


Tom
 
Tom

Download and install the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service
Download details: User Profile Hive Cleanup Service
http://snipurl.com/5b61

UPHClean v1.5e readme.txt
http://snipurl.com/ko8m

Is anything seen to be running in Task Manager when the computer does
not shutdown?

Have a look in the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for
Errors and Warnings and post copies here. Don't post any more than 48
hours ago.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

BTW your motherboard and chipset ( or something very similar ) is
installed on this computer.



--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
See if the following helps

http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I actually found this page myself when I was
researching powerdown issues, but since it talked about XP pre-SP1, I
figured most of it would be of little value to me since SP3 is installed
here. The powerdown problem appeared quite abruptly, and appears unrelated
to any recent hardware or driver changes.


Tom
 
Download and install the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service
Download details: User Profile Hive Cleanup Service
http://snipurl.com/5b61

UPHClean v1.5e readme.txt
http://snipurl.com/ko8m
Click to expand...

UPHClean is installed here and has been for quite some time.
Is anything seen to be running in Task Manager when the computer does
not shutdown?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I guess I didn't make myself clear. At the point where the system
stops responding, I have nothing but a blank blue screen and a mouse cursor
that still moves.
Have a look in the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for
Errors and Warnings and post copies here. Don't post any more than 48
hours ago.
Click to expand...

Every Sunday night I run a system virus check with AVG which is set to shut
down the system when finished. The last entry in the System Event log is
this:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: EventLog
Event Category: None
Event ID: 6006
Date: 1/5/2009
Time: 1:19:05 AM
User: N/A
Computer: TOM
Description:
The Event log service was stopped.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: ff 00 00 00 ÿ...

There is an earlier entry that has been around for quite some time and I've
so far not been able to find out what causes it. Rarely it has apparently
caused the system to hang during shutdown but in most instances shutdown
proceeded normally whether this message appeared or not:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Application Popup
Event Category: None
Event ID: 26
Date: 1/5/2009
Time: 1:18:51 AM
User: N/A
Computer: TOM
Description:
Application popup: dwwin.exe - DLL Initialization Failed : The application
failed to initialize because the window station is shutting down.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Every time this message appears in the System log, there's this in the
Application log:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: UPHClean
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1010
Date: 1/5/2009
Time: 1:19:03 AM
User: N/A
Computer: TOM
Description:
User profile hive cleanup service stopped successfully.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

BTW your motherboard and chipset ( or something very similar ) is
installed on this computer.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean here.


Tom
 
Tom

Application popup: dwwin.exe - DLL Initialization Failed : The
application
failed to initialize because the window station is shutting down.

I spent some time researching this error. This is an Information Report
not an Error or Warning. The question in my mind is what is causing
dwwin.exe to start?

The process called dwwin.exe is the main executable for Doctor Watson.
Doctor Watson is used to collect information relating to a program
crash. There is a Doctors Watson log but I suspect the problem wiil not
be logged because Doctor Watson has not started. You may have an earlier
Event Viewer report but I am guessing. The only other way to discover
the cause is to check what is running in Task Manager, shut down and
then see if the Event ID 26 Information report appears. This approach
might be tedious.

I found one programme which has been linked to the problem -Magic Tune.
Messenger is another possibility. However, it could be any Application
producing an error shortly before shutdown.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Tom Hall said:
XP Pro SP3 here.

Coincidentally or not, since installing the critical update that Microsoft
released outside of its normal update schedule before Christmas, my
computer will no longer shut down or restart by itself.

The system proceeds through the usual process until nothing is left but a
blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is still functional) - and it
stops
there.

I've tried uninstalling the critical update and even uninstalled video
drivers I had previously installed to support an ATI Radeon HD 4870
graphics card I had added about a week prior to the appearance of the
problem.

Neither of these worked. The system will not power down for either a
shutdown or restart.

The system is basically an Intel system, about 4 years old now:

CPU Type Unknown, 3000 MHz (3.75 x 800)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Intel Grantsdale-G i915G/GL/GV
System Memory 2016 MB
BIOS Type AMI (04/29/05)

When the room is quiet, I can hear disk activity for a few seconds after
the screen clears, then eventually it stops. I've left the system in this
state for as long as several hours and returned to find it unchanged.

My understanding is that it's probably a hardware issue (powerdown) rather
than a software (shutdown-restart) issue, but I'm not a hardware guy so I
don't know how to troubleshoot the problem.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Tom
Click to expand...


Tom:
The very first order of priority for you is to back up any data that you
want or need from your HDD. Needless to say the backup should be to another
HDD or some removable media, e.g., flash drive, CD/DVD, etc.

Just to clarify the precise nature of the problem you're experiencing...

1. You state "The system proceeds through the usual process until nothing is
left but a blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is still functional) -
and it stops there." This tends to indicate that you're referring to the
*bootup* process, i.e., the boot fails so that you never reach the desktop.
Is that so?

2. But then you indicate (as diagnostic procedures) that you've uninstalled
some MS critical updates and a graphics driver which (one or the other) you
suspected of causing your problem. So that tends to indicate you've been
able to boot to a Desktop, yes?

3. I assume you've since reinstalled the (current) ATI graphics driver for
your video card or are you working with the previously installed driver?

3. Then you indicate (that at some point) "the screen clears". Could you
more clearly explain that comment? Are you indicating that the "blue screen"
disappears and the Desktop screen appears?

4. And could you explain more precisely the fact that "(t)he system will not
power down for either a
shutdown or restart."? I take it you're referring to the situation where
nothing happens when you try a normal "Turn Off Computer" routine, i.e.,
neither pressing the Turn Off or Restart buttons work. So you're forced to
use the PC's power button to shutdown. Is that it?

5. I assume this is a desktop PC, right? Is it an OEM machine (make/model?)
or did you build it? Assuming it is a desktop PC do you know your way around
the "innards" of a machine?

6. Re the XP OS installation CD you have - full retail version? non-branded
OEM? Recovery/restore disk if such was provided by OEM with your machine?

7. And, of course, you're reasonably certain your system is malware-free,
yes?

It's hard, if not impossible (at least for me), to tell at this point
whether the problem is hardware or software-related. Possibly it's just a
mildly-corrupted OS problem that can be corrected through the sfc /scannow
and/or the chkdsk /r processes. Have you tried them? And if that's a no-go
then possibly a Repair install of the OS will resolve your problem.
Obviously all this assumes the problem involves a corrupted OS and is not
hardware-related. And further assumes you get a functional boot so that
those commands can be invoked from within a running system.

It would be a good idea to check out your HDD in the meantime with the
freely available HDD diagnostic utility usually available from the
manufacturer of the disk. Just on the off-chance that we may be dealing with
a defective disk.

Anyway, in view of my above questions (and if you want to further pursue
this matter along the lines of my questions), would you provide a precise
step-by-step description of the problem starting with the time you first
power-on the machine, through the time the problem arises, describing
exactly what happens at that time, and then describing your actions with
respect to shutting down the machine?
Anna
 
Anna

This is a shutdown not boot problem.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
watchman220

Does your computer pass the validation test the link is asking you to
submit to?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
I have the same issue on a vaio laptop. The problem is specifically
when shut down or restart is selected from Start Menu or any other way,
it almost shuts down. But it hangs on blue screen and an arrow cursor.
It is not frozen, cursor can be moved. To finish shut down, the power
button must be held in. Everything else is non responsive.
It would appear that the system is not affected adversely by the forced
shutdown. THere are no notifications of serious errors on reboot.
It simply won't shut down like it is supposed to.
Click to expand...

Yup, that's exactly the situation here as well. No entries in the system
log, no warnings or boxes popping up at either shutdown or startup.
I am curious about anyone else's results with the User Profile Hive
Cleanup tool.
Click to expand...

I've had it installed here for quite some time. No problems at all.


Tom
 
I have the same issue on a vaio laptop. The problem is specifically
when shut down or restart is selected from Start Menu or any other way,
it almost shuts down. But it hangs on blue screen and an arrow cursor.
It is not frozen, cursor can be moved. To finish shut down, the power
button must be held in. Everything else is non responsive.
It would appear that the system is not affected adversely by the forced
shutdown. THere are no notifications of serious errors on reboot.
It simply won't shut down like it is supposed to.
Click to expand...

The solution to my problem came from an entirely unexpected source. I've
gone through 3 versions of Nero burning software, and have never been happy
with any of them, so finally in complete frustration today I uninstalled
the product.

My system now shuts down and restarts again.

I suspect that the problem was that Nero was waiting for some signal from
(probably) the DVD drive that it was finished, and not receiving (or not
recognizing) the signal, refused to release the hardware, thus causing
Windows to go into a state of endless waiting.

This is just a guess, mind you, but given the immediate solution that
ensued, I strongly suspect something of that nature was to blame.


Tom
 
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