xp shutdown / windowsupdate troubleshooting

June 28, 2006 9:50 PM

I've been having shutdown problems in XP for a while, which I think I've narrowed down to windowsupdate, anyone help me troubleshoot? (Info inside)

I'm running a legitimate version of XP Home SP2 on a P3 933mhz / 512 ram / Asus CUSLC-2 mobo PC.

This was my old PC which I've given to my gf as a temporary internet machine till she gets a laptop. It suits her needs fine and runs ok, but about 2 or 3 months ago (before I gave it to her) it started hanging on the 'windows is shutting down...' stage of shutdown (but would eventually shutdown after anything from 1 - 5 mins).

I think it's related to windows not connecting to windows update on shutdown for some reason, because:

- when I click the windows update shortcut in the start menu nothing happens

- when I go to my computer -> properties -> automatic updates it takes ages to open the tab, and if I try and modify any of the settings it freezes

- when I go to control panel -> automatic updates either nothing happens, or it freezes

- when I go directly to the windows update site in IE I get Error number: 0x800A0046, something to do with a userdata persistence setting in IE, which is set how they recommend anyway


I've hardly installed anything on this machine apart from I regularly use autopatcher, and if memory serves this problem started not long after using it for a routine update.

The other quirks I can think of mentioning that might help are:

- when I try and defrag in anything other than the hidden admin account nothing happens

- going start menu -> shutdown takes ages to bring up the logoff/reboot/shutdown box, and I have to shutdown using task manager instead.

Oh and this also used to happen when I shutdown from the hidden admin account, but hasn't the last couple of times for some reason.

Anyone got any ideas how to fix it?

posted by chrissyboy to computers & internet (3 comments total)

I had that happen for a long time on this board. Turns out it was a USB issue... something in the USB system refused to shut down properly, and Windows hung. A BIOS update from the manufacturer fixed the problem.

Did your problem start sometime around when you added a new USB device?

ASUS most likely isn't doing BIOS updates for that board anymore, but check that you have the most recent, and then try unplugging USB stuff, just for the heck of it.
posted by Malor at 4:26 AM on June 29, 2006

Thanks for the response, yeah the BIOS is the last recent version they did. I tried taking all usb devices out of the equation and it made no odds.

FWIW I somehow managed to get XP to let me disable automatic updates (not long after I posted this question) which has resolved the issue, not a massive deal because I use autopatcher for updates but still not an ideal workaround.

Funny, I'd thought there'd be at least a couple more suggestions or responses to this one. Maybe next time I'll post an open ended question about a relationship or something.
posted by chrissyboy at 6:04 AM on June 29, 2006

Well, I'm sure it wasn't your fault, you asked the question very well. It may simply be that you already covered all the bases we could think of. Plus, it's a fairly unusual symptom... if there's one thing Windows is normally good at, it's shutting down. :-)
posted by Malor at 6:24 PM on June 29, 2006