Solved Laptop Won't Shut Down - Is there some way to diagnose why?

[Blake81]

So, my father's laptop has basically refused to shut down for the last week or so; only way to make it shut down is forcing it via holding down the power button (which is never the best option).

My father insists this is somehow caused by him installing Ubuntu in an external drive, but IMHO, that seems very unlikely (especially as Ubuntu shuts down fast and quick without issue). So, what I'm trying to figure is, is there a software or tool that may help me diagnose what happens (or not happens) during the shutdown process? I wanna find out if there's something somehow halting the shutdown process.

Laptop is a Dell and has Win7 Ultimate x64

Thanks in advance.

 

[RolandJS]

Try this just before doing a Shutdown or a Restart: In the right corner, where Notifications Tray resides, right click on every icon, click exit or close or whatever, most will go away, some cannot be closed, that's ok. With a number of those background-residing programs and utilities gone, maybe computer will Shutdown or Restart. If that happens, that means one or more background-residing items are not releasing their hold on Windows fast enough or at all.

 

[file3456]

You probably have a program, executable, DLL, or service tying up the shutdown process.

First open Task Manager. Are there any processes that are unresponsive or using CPU cycles? To open Task Manager right click the Task Bar below and you'll see it in the right click context menu.

Run Autoruns, go to File and save the ARN file. Zip the ARN file and upload here. Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs

This may help ID the issue. Run WhySoSlow once. Does it report anything? Resplendence Software - WhySoSlow

 

[Blake81]

Hm, will try those and see what happens. Still, I was doing some troubleshooting of my own and I noticed something interesting; it only happens if it has been on for a long while.

If say, I turn it on, wait for it to fully start up and load everything, the shut it down, it shuts down fast and easy. However, if it has been in use for a long while, it does that. So I presume it's some program he uses (he's a HAM Radio Amateur, and has lots of digital audio and HAM Radio-related apps in his PC) that causes that.

 

[file3456]

Yeah, it could be an amateur radio program. Maybe a DLL or something. I use several of those programs for RTTY, ACARS, etc.

 

[Blake81]

OK, after quite a few days of struggling, finally we found out what was going on... and it happens that my old man was right; it was Ubuntu's fault.

Since he installed Ubuntu, had been booting from an external eSata drive, even when using his main drive with Win7. So, has he had booted from the Ubuntu drive, the Linux was somehow ACTIVE as he used the window, so even as he shut the Windows down, the Ubuntu was preventing the PC from shutting down.

The whole thing got solved by reconfiguring GRUB (Linux's boot program) to instead boot from the main disk, and select which OS whe wanted to go to. And this most certainly takes the cake on the "Weirdest Fixes I've Ever Seen" prize...