Slow shutting down!

[Vildar]

I have noticed that after i have played a game, trying to shut down my computer is a pain. If i go by the start>shut-down way, the box does not show up and the computer freezes.

If i shut it down by pressing the power button, it proceeds to shut down. But takes 5 mins to fully turn off. If i don't do much on the machine it shuts down fine, under 20 seconds.

I have tried Defragmenting and disk clean-up and all that jazz, but still takes forever to shut down.

Anyone know the problem and the solution? Thanks in advance.

[Aeni]

Re: Slow shutting down!

I have noticed that after i have played a game, trying to shut down my computer is a pain. If i go by the start>shut-down way, the box does not show up and the computer freezes.

If i shut it down by pressing the power button, it proceeds to shut down. But takes 5 mins to fully turn off. If i don't do much on the machine it shuts down fine, under 20 seconds.

I have tried Defragmenting and disk clean-up and all that jazz, but still takes forever to shut down.

Anyone know the problem and the solution? Thanks in advance.

While the game was running, more than likely, either of several things could've happened:

1. Your CPU/Bridge Chips/DSP Chips on-board the motherboard is overheating.
2. Your system resources were either strained or put to the ceiling.
3. You have several background programs running which have the ability to adversely affect your ability to run the game properly. This includes antivirus, firewall and torrent software.

Solutions ... make sure you are in a well-ventilated room, preferably one with an AC. If you are in a warm environment, try to play with the case cover off the PC and run a regular fan on the system. Make sure you have more than just the minimum requirement to play FFXI. Minimum requirements are just that - enough to start the game. To enjoy the experience and all it has to offer? You'll need more than just the minimum (Try recommended specs)

Lastly, turn off background software, which can include antivirus, firewall and torrent. Also included in this is VOIP software, remote management software and chat programs, like Trillian. If you're running either at bare minimum or even recommended, you might not have ample resources to run many programs at once. (OF course, the simple solution to all this is to upgrade RAM and/or entire PC to meet the recommended system specs)

[Vildar]

Re: Slow shutting down!

I don't think that my machine is over heating, as i have a little temp monitor on my task bar. My system stays around 38-44 degrees Celsius. As for system specs, im running 1.5GB of RAM, 1.8GHZ of processor and my game seems to run fine. It's just after the game i have trouble.

Background software is just my AV, Spy ware scanner and firewall. I have used the same software for a while now and it has only just recently started to shut down slowly.

I have also just experienced a slow shut down after just checking emails.

[Aeni]

Re: Slow shutting down!

I have also just experienced a slow shut down after just checking emails.

Did you recently update any of your software recently? I'm guessing that either your firewall or AV got updated, and the update has some bug which prevents the software from either (a) letting go of system resources when it is done with a task (aka memory leak) or (b) it's triggering a reaction in which the software becomes "paranoid" and scans every single system process.

[Vildar]

Re: Slow shutting down!

Did you recently update any of your software recently? I'm guessing that either your firewall or AV got updated, and the update has some bug which prevents the software from either (a) letting go of system resources when it is done with a task (aka memory leak) or (b) it's triggering a reaction in which the software becomes "paranoid" and scans every single system process.

No updates have happened that i know off. If its any help these are the software i use.

AV=Avast
Spyware=Spyware Terminator
Firewall=Filseclab personal firewall

[Aeni]

Re: Slow shutting down!

No updates have happened that i know off. If its any help these are the software i use.

AV=Avast
Spyware=Spyware Terminator
Firewall=Filseclab personal firewall

I saw Avast ... iirc, this also was an issue with WoW players that I saw in the tech forums over there. Might wanna go Google up "Avast Game Issues" or something like that.

Other than that, though, I don't see any reason why you should be getting the problems you are ... other than a possible hardware problem, which is next to impossible to help diagnose online. Might want to consider d/l a shareware version of diagnosis software (like SiS) and see if there's anything showing up there.

Or if your PC is under warranty, taking it in for routine maintenance.

[Gentoo]

Re: Slow shutting down!

I doubt this is the issue since you don't mention any excessive disk activity during shutdown, but it's about the only thing I can think of off the top of my head. Did you (or one of your malware programs) maybe turn on pagefile clearing at shutdown?

In the registry take a look at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" and see if there's a value called ClearPageFileAtShutdown"

If ClearPageFileAtShutdown exists and is not set to 0 (zero) then that's your issue.

P.S. A quick trip a-googling shows that some Creative sound drivers, and some nVidia video drivers have caused similar issues. Might be worth re-installing the driver if you have such hardware.

[Vildar]

Re: Slow shutting down!

I saw Avast ... iirc, this also was an issue with WoW players that I saw in the tech forums over there. Might wanna go Google up "Avast Game Issues" or something like that.

Other than that, though, I don't see any reason why you should be getting the problems you are ... other than a possible hardware problem, which is next to impossible to help diagnose online. Might want to consider d/l a shareware version of diagnosis software (like SiS) and see if there's anything showing up there.

Or if your PC is under warranty, taking it in for routine maintenance.

I cant seem to find any Diagnostic software like you are describing. Everything i have found is asking me to pay. Do you know any you would recommend that i might be able to find? I do use something called "Speedfan" if that can do anything to help me find out?

I doubt this is the issue since you don't mention any excessive disk activity during shutdown, but it's about the only thing I can think of off the top of my head. Did you (or one of your malware programs) maybe turn on pagefile clearing at shutdown?

In the registry take a look at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" and see if there's a value called ClearPageFileAtShutdown"

If ClearPageFileAtShutdown exists and is not set to 0 (zero) then that's your issue.

P.S. A quick trip a-googling shows that some Creative sound drivers, and some nVidia video drivers have caused similar issues. Might be worth re-installing the driver if you have such hardware.

I had a look at the Reg value and it is set at zero. My card is an nVidia and i have this card for a good while and i never experienced slow shutting down times.

My sound is done by C-media, again i have had this for a good long while and it has never caused me any problems.
I did try upgrading my RAM from 512 to 1.5GB but i still experience problems.

[Feba]

Re: Slow shutting down!

I've had a perfectly working skeletal system for a long time now, it doesn't mean my ribs won't break if something crushes me. Something working in the past != something working now.

[Gentoo]

Re: Slow shutting down!

You might also try this patch/service from Microsoft.

[Vildar]

Re: Slow shutting down!

You might also try this patch/service from Microsoft.

Might i ask what this does or how it works? I have installed it but im not sure how to work it.

[Gentoo]

Re: Slow shutting down!

Might i ask what this does or how it works? I have installed it but im not sure how to work it.

Directly from the page where you downloaded the UPHClean service:

The User Profile Hive Cleanup service helps to ensure user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off. System processes and applications occasionally maintain connections to registry keys in the user profile after a user logs off. In those cases the user session is prevented from completely ending.

In other words, it looks for drivers, services, and applications holding open registry keys when the system is shutting down or logging off, thus making the shutdown/logoff process very slow.

As far as how to use it, Microsofts site says:

For additional information about UPHClean, view the Readme.txt file.

Beyond that I can't help much. I can't read the documentation, because I can't download the file without going through the WGA validation -- and I can't validate because, oddly enough, Microsoft hasn't released an Ubuntu Linux or Mac OS X version of WGA.

[Vildar]

Holy hell!

I did a little research and i did something called a "Clean Boot", which can be found here. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

After i followed all the steps i was greeted with a window saying i need to reactivate windows within 3 days as hardware has changed! I tried to reactivate but apparently my key had been used to many times.

Anyone know what i am meant to do here? Please respond within 3 days if you can. Thanks.

P.S: Thank you all for the information on the slow shutting down. I have taken most information down to help me in the future if this happens again.

[Gentoo]

Re: Holy hell!

Anyone know what i am meant to do here? Please respond within 3 days if you can.

If you're using a legitimate key, call up Microsoft and get them re-validate your copy. IIRC, the telephone number is right on the dialog that says that your key couldn't be verified (or whatever verbage they use). They're open 24-hours.

If you're not using a legit key, the solution is pretty obvious.

[Vildar]

Re: Slow shutting down!

Yea my key is a legit, the problem is that for some reason the number is not displayed there. Plus i have swapped cases since i had this copy and i have lost the key. Anyway i could find out?

UPDATE: I have found out my product key using a nice little program called SIW. Just need to find out the number now.

UPDATE!: Problem solved! My windows is re activated. Thank you all for your help. I just need to solve the slow shutting down times now.