Win 2k Shut Down Prob

[RhydmDr]

FIRST, thanks to TTG for the Win 2k verson of msconfig.  I hated not having it.

My problem is with shutdown.  First let me say that I have recently done a fresh install as I moved across Canada and my PC didn't like the move.  So to resolve a host of operating problems I just fdisked and reinstalled everything.  I'm running Win 2000 Pro SP-3.

My PC seems to shut down normally but does not go to a shut down screen with the message that it is safe to turn off my computer.  After saving my settings my PC simply goes to a black blank screen with a flashing horizontal cursor.  Like a DOS screen.  If I power down my pc it restarts normally with
no changes.  However this is a very inconvenient problem because it also does this during a restart so I must physically power off my pc during a restart.

Any help would be appreciated.  Louis.

[Josetann]

First, what's different now from what you had before?  What OS did you have before, and at what service pack level?  I would check the windowsupdate site and see if there's any updates to the system first, then also check and see if there's a bios update available for your motherboard.  If that doesn't help then please post back here with more info on your system and what you've tried and we'll go from there.

[RhydmDr]

As I mentioned, my OS is Win2K SP-3 so I have the latest updates.  I ensured that I downloaded and installed SP-3 immediately upon my latest install.  I've also downloaded all the other latest updates for MS.  I've also recently flashed my bios with the latest version for my board.  I purchased the software to ensure I was getting a good version of it.
One thing I haven't tried yet is run Win2k in Safe Mode to see if it will shut down normally form there.  Then I could install all my drivers, startup software and libraries one at a time until the problem reappears but I wondered if someone here had a quicker idea.
What other system info do you need?  Thanks for answering.

[Josetann]

Did you also have SP3 installed previously when it was working fine?  Also did you have to change out any hardware?

[RhydmDr]

Yes I did have SP3 installed previously.  My hardware configuration is, for the most part, the same.  My drivers however I downloaded from the internet because as you know Win2k has some driver sissues.  I did not backup all of my previous drivers before I moved.  I can't really explain that - it was probably a mistake.  I'm wondering if one of my drivers is the cause of my problems.  Thanks for your help Josetann.

[Josetann]

Could be.  What kind of video card do you have?  Could be the drivers for that...well could be anything, but that would be the first thing I'd check if it's a driver issue.  Can you check the event log?  See anything out of the ordinary in there?

When you flashed the bios, did you go through, have it reset all values to default, exit, then go back in to make changes?  All the bios flashes I've done recommended doing this.  Perhaps you didn't change one of the settings back and that's the problem.  Personally I set all bios cacheable settings to none (as far as caching the bios or video, of course leave the cpu cache enabled), set pnp os to no, and disable anything I don't need (such as onboard audio if I have a separate sound card).