WinXP Pro with SP3 + RDC = Weird Shutdown Behavior

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
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J

John

I notice that RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) on WinXP with SP3 acts kinda
weird. First time I saw this was right after SP3 was released. I thought it
was a coincidence so I ignore it. However the problem keeps coming back. I
still see it today.

Here's how to regenerate the problem (both PCs are WinXP Pro with SP3):

1) Switch on PC1

2) Switch on PC2 (RDC should be enabled on PC2)

3a) Use PC1 to connect to PC2 thru RDC. You don't have to do anything. Just
establish a connection, login as Administrator then Log Off (you can open
notepad or something else, then close it and Log Off).

3b) PC2 should now be showing WinXP logon prompt

4) Physically go to PC2 and hit CTRL ALT DEL

5) Leave the selection on Shutdown and hit ENTER to shut down PC2

Bam! PC2 monitor blanks out in about 1 second after hitting ENTER (Shutdown
is selected) but HD and Power LEDs on the PC are still on. Any OS (not just
Windows) should take longer than 1 second to shutdown. About a minute later,
the monitor shows WinXP logon prompt. Shouldn't it be off when I tell it to
shutdown?

The only way to shut it down it to do another CTRL ALT DEL and Shutdown (the
second time, WinXP turns off for real).

It's not a big deal but I've never seen this issue with SP2. Has anyone seen
this problem? I've seen this problem on more than 8 different PCs. All with
SP3 installed.
 
John said:
I notice that RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) on WinXP with SP3 acts kinda
weird. First time I saw this was right after SP3 was released. I thought it
was a coincidence so I ignore it. However the problem keeps coming back. I
still see it today.

Here's how to regenerate the problem (both PCs are WinXP Pro with SP3):

1) Switch on PC1

2) Switch on PC2 (RDC should be enabled on PC2)

3a) Use PC1 to connect to PC2 thru RDC. You don't have to do anything. Just
establish a connection, login as Administrator then Log Off (you can open
notepad or something else, then close it and Log Off).

3b) PC2 should now be showing WinXP logon prompt

4) Physically go to PC2 and hit CTRL ALT DEL

5) Leave the selection on Shutdown and hit ENTER to shut down PC2

Bam! PC2 monitor blanks out in about 1 second after hitting ENTER (Shutdown
is selected) but HD and Power LEDs on the PC are still on. Any OS (not just
Windows) should take longer than 1 second to shutdown. About a minute later,
the monitor shows WinXP logon prompt. Shouldn't it be off when I tell it to
shutdown?

The only way to shut it down it to do another CTRL ALT DEL and Shutdown (the
second time, WinXP turns off for real).

It's not a big deal but I've never seen this issue with SP2. Has anyone seen
this problem? I've seen this problem on more than 8 different PCs. All with
SP3 installed.
Click to expand...
Hi John,

I've just tested what you wrote and I don't have this problem.
It takes a bit longer before shutdown is initiated.
It's correct as you say that it blanks out within a second, but the machine
eventually shuts down. This took about 1,5 - 2 minutes for me.

Both machines are WinXp SP3.
 
Thanks Oni. You're right. It doesn't always happen but I've seen the
symptoms many times on many different WinXP with SP3. Not sure if it makes a
difference but my setup is in a Windows Server 2003 AD domain.
 
I've just tested it once more. Here's what I notice after pressing Enter to
shutdown PC2:

1) Monitor blanks out right away (blank/black screen)

2) About 1.5 to 2 minutes later, a blue background comes back without
Windows logon prompt (there's only blue background)

3) About 30 seconds later, I can see Windows logon prompt pops up for about
a second

4) then Windows proceeded to shutdown completely

Windows XP SP3 occasionally doesn't continue all the way to shutdown. It
just stops at (3), showing a logon prompt and waiting for users to hit CTRL
ALT DEL to logon.
 
John said:
I notice that RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) on WinXP with SP3 acts kinda
weird. First time I saw this was right after SP3 was released. I thought it
Click to expand...

I'm a XP2 fan, not yet a XP3 fan.
 
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