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Windows XP Pro Hangs on Restarts

I just dropped a Windows XP company image onto a HP laptop (Probook 4510s running Windows XP SP3); i wasn't sure this was going to work due to potential HAL problems (we are typically a Dell shop)...... but low and behold it worked! Well........ at least until I tried rebooting the laptop. If I attempt to restart the laptop, it will appear to be shutting down properly..... and after it goes through the "saving your settings", "Windows is shutting down" messages, the background disappears... then the screen turns blue and the mouse arrow just locks up. It will just sit like this until I physically press the power button to shutdown. The ironic thing is........ if I chose "shutdown" instead of "restart", the machine powers off normally. I've just tried flashing the BIOS to the latest version, but same thing still happens. What exactly is different about doing a shutdown vs. a restart? Anyone have any ideas?

Thalarctos

You need to start up in Safe Mode by pressing F8, then uninstall all the Dell drivers. You should be able to reboot and then install the HP drivers.

Iekos

80% its due to incorrect drivers more than hardware fault.

Image re-ghost on different hardware will cause unexpected results.

I'm 100% sure, if you reinstalled from scratch with a Windows XP disc will solve your problems.

If you dont want to do that then try:

1, Windows Update to update all drivers and patches
2, If that doesn't work then download driver max (http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/) to get the latest drivers.

Still, I would just reinstall from scratch to ensure it works.

Good luck

Wheeler_Helpdesk

ASKER

No Dell drivers were ever installed....... Image was created on a piece of hardware old enough to require no drivers be installed during install process. I only install drivers as they are necessary. Only HP drivers are installed on this laptop.

Just tried booting up in Safe Mode to see if the laptop would restart. Same issue even in Safe Mode, so don't think it's a driver issue.

Thalarctos

If it worked on the first boot, I'd redo the image, then before rebooting, uninstall all the Dell drivers.

Wheeler_Helpdesk

ASKER

Thalarctos - As stated in earlier message, no Dell drivers were ever installed on this laptop.
This laptop never restarted right once....... even before any HP drivers were installed.
I may try to install a fresh copy of Windows from a CD on this laptop to see if it makes a difference......
Any idea why laptop will "Shutdown" normally, but hang on a "restart"? Aren't you essentially doing the same thing but just relling the machine to turn back on?

Thalarctos

Sorry, I think I understand now. Check out this site:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/shutdown_issues_in_xp.htm

edbedb

"no Dell drivers were ever installed on this laptop"
If the image was created from a Dell it will likely already contain Dell drivers.
I would also go to Add/Remove Programs and remove any Dell specific software.

nobus

check the bios boot priority - it cna help

johnb6767

Event Viewer, do you see anything related to User32/Win32K as the source? Maybe some errors relating to "Attempt top shutdown was denied by "BLAH"....

johnb6767

Also, a few reg mods I use for shutdown problems.....REM App Recovery Settings/Process Shutdownreg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v AutoEndTasks /t reg_sz /d 1 /freg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v HungAppTimeout /t reg_sz /d 2000 /freg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v WaitToKillAppTimeout /t reg_sz /d 2000 /freg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control" /v WaitToKillServiceTimeout /d 2500 /fProbably not the resolution, but wanted to offer as a suggestion. Helps to end running tasks sooner, that prevent shutdown problems.....

Wheeler_Helpdesk

ASKER

edbedb - the image was created using a volume licensed copy of Windows XP........ not using any sort of Dell supplied media.

Johnb6767 - I will try your suggestions and let you know how I make out. Don't see anything too abnormal in the Event Viewer.

I do see something referring in the Event Viewer about not being able to communicate on IRQ23. After doing a little research, i get the feeling that the HAL loaded as part of the image might be the issue...... the original image was setup on an old Dell Dimension 4100, and this laptop has a duo core processor. Not sure that there is any way to adjust the HAL in this situation. Trying to load a fresh copy of the OS from CD to see how it is picked up this time around, and see if the shutdown problem still persists.......

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Wheeler_Helpdesk

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edbedb

I don't understand. Was the fix installing a fresh copy of Windows XP or changing the HAL from single to multi core?

Wheeler_Helpdesk

ASKER

I took an image of the laptop as it was having the restart problem............ I then installed a fresh copy of Windows to a) see if how the HAL would be detected on a fresh install and b) to eliminate a hardware issue itself. After I realized that the HAL was being detected as a multicore and the laptop was now rebooting ok, I dumped the original problematic image back onto the PC using Ghost and used the DEVCON tool with the commands listed in the article to change the HAL. Literally took a minute to make the change. So......I could have gone about it either way, but changing the HAL on the original image solved my problem.

Wheeler_Helpdesk

ASKER

Sorry if i previous post was a little confusing...... guess I didn't explain all the steps I took along the way.

edbedb

Thanks for clearing that up for me.