HP laptop running Win 7 doesn't want to shut down

[Nikilet]

I'm writing about my friend's computer so I don't have all the info at my fingertips. It's about two years old. I know she has Windows 7 on it. She has been having trouble for a long time with the darned thing not wanting to shut down. I'm going to quote her description to me in an email and hope that someone has some ideas. I'm trying to help her out because she is not comfortable with going into forums and doing this.

"It turns off some times right away. But then a few times it sits and waits to shut off. If I close the lid it only shuts down the screen but the computer is still running. Then later it turns back on as I hear the start up tone. Then I can click off again and it shuts down. If I don't turn it off then it shuts down after it use all the power."

 

[arvinwebb]

Hi Nikilet,

Follow the suggestion as i mentioned below and let me know how that goes.

Click “Start”, on “Computer” click right mouse button and select “Properties”, click “Device Manager”

Find the item labeled “IEEE 1394 Bus Host Controllers” and expand this group.
This group only contains one device: “VIA 1394 OHCI Compilant Host Controller”
Right click this item and select “Properties”, select “Power Management” tab, and finally check the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”.
After that the computer should power down normally.

IF you can't find the VIA 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller in Device Manager (like me), do the following step- Reboot and go into the BIOS. The IEEE 1394 Controller is Enabled in there. Disable it, save BIOS settings and reboot it. Now the VIA 1394 Controller shows up in the Device Manager!!

Thanks....

 

[Nikilet]

Actually, I found this solution when I Googled this. I thank you for your reply.

Are there any other possibilities?

 

[GEWB]

I have experienced the problem and traced it to a "hidden" (not visible, without focus) dialog box that is "waiting" for an answer. I found it by opening Task Manager.

Other times it was due to a "background" program that would not close. HP runs a lot of background "stuff" that is dodgy - see the HP forum for laptops (mine is a Compaq which is HP).

Regards,
GEWB

 

[Nikilet]

Thanks for your input. I even registered in the HP forum so I could help my friend out (I have a Dell) and I haven't received any answers. Not very responsive.