Windows 7: Shutdown button only hibernates laptop

Hi. I upgraded to windows 7 home premium a month ago from Vista. Ever since then, when I try to shut my laptop down, it only hibernates (ie: the power button flashes slowly). Then, when I start up in the morning, my battery is dead or almost dead. I have tried shutting down various ways (ctrol-alt-dlt; start button then clicking on shut down; logging out all users then clicking shut down on the right side of the screen) but all with the same result... hibernation only.

In fact, when I try to shut down using the start button-> then click the arrow to the right of "shutdown" the options do not even include shutdown, only switch user, log off, lock, restart, sleep and hibernate.

I have disabled the wireless connection/bluetooth... same result. I have gone into the power management and it says that the power button shoud shut off the computer, yet the darn light still flashes and drains the battery.

Despite calling Dell (and having what I thought was three years of full tech support) they would not help me since they said it was a software issue, and I only had hardware support. My laptop is only 10 months old.

I upgraded the BIOS and the battery a couple of days ago, nothing changed.

Any help or tips would be most appreciated. I am not an IT guru... so please be gentle!

Hello w7novice, welcome to Seven forums!


Have a look at the tutorial, at the link below to see if there's an option there to help you and post back with what you find out.

Power Button - Start Menu