Solved Windows 7 laptop takes 20-25 minutes to shut down, even from Safe Mode

[Duckbill]

My laptop, a Dell which is about fifteen months old, takes way too long to shut down. I'm not sure when this started - it used to shut down just fine. Originally I thought it was getting stuck, and I held down the power button after 10 minutes of 'Shutting down...' but if I leave it for half an hour it will turn itself off and then I won't get the 'Did not shut down properly' message when I turn it on again.

I tried turning off everything in msconfig, as well as rebooting into safe mode, but that didn't seem to make any difference. Any other ideas? I'm thinking of formatting the hard drive and starting again, but I'd love to avoid that if possible. Someone (not on this forum) told me to check Event Viewer, but I wasn't really sure how to interpret what I saw there.

 

[karlsnooks]

Duckbill,

Welcome to SevenForums.

First test: turn off your wireless, disconnect from any network, remove any cables to external devices.

Now try to shutdown.

Is the problem gone? Yes/no

WiN + X | Connected section, click on TURN WIRELESS OFF
WIN= key with Microsoft flag on top.

 

[ankur850]

thats was too much .................... 25 minutes

 

[Thaliur]

Did you change any BIOS settings? Specifically, did you enable AHCI mode for your hard disk? On my desktop, the windows default AHCI drivers do not seem to be entirely compatible with my mainboard, and when the PC is running, the harddisk light never goes out, and everything that has to do with the harddisk is extremely slow.

Additionally, what did you do during the session? Maybe there were a lot of write operations, and Windows has a lot to clean up during shutdown, although 25 minutes would still be extremely long, even in this case.

Does it also happen if you shut down immediately after booting, from the login screen?

 

[Duckbill]

So I tried turning off my wireless and unplugging my external hard drive: it took the same time, 23 minutes. Today I also tried booting into safe mode with minimal services, and that also took the same time to shut down.

I don't remember changing any BIOS settings. How can I check if AHCI is enabled? I have noticed that the hard disk light stays on solidly when it's shutting down. About a month after I got the laptop, I did a clean install using the DVDs Dell gave me (Operating System disk and Drivers And Utilities disk) so those are the drivers I'm using.

It seems to be about the same every time, but usually the computer is on for a few days at a time and I just put it to sleep at night instead of shutting down. I will try shutting it down straight away from the login screen and see how long that takes.

Oh, I also tried booting from a Knoppix liveCD this morning, and the shut down from that only took a few seconds, but that isn't very useful.

Edit: Just started it up and shut it down from the login screen... 23 minutes again.

 

[karlsnooks]

Duckbill,
Are you connected via a cable or router of some type to a home network or to any other kind of network? Yes/No.

I keep hammering at this because there is a plausible explanation if this is the case.

 

[Duckbill]

No, I connect wirelessly to our home router so when I turned off the wireless, I wasn't connected to anything else.

 

[karlsnooks]

Is your computer a member of a "home group" / "home network"?

If NO, then we must rule out malware first and foremost.

To that end, I'm including a procedure for running WINDOWS DEFENDER OFFLINE.
Windows Defender Offline is NOT Windows Defender as shows in your Control Panel.
This is another example of a misnomer from Microsoft.

With that said, here we go:
(Please notice that you need to submit the .LOG files when finished)

HOW TO USE WINDOWS DEFENDER OFFLINE ON A USB STICK
Windows Defender Offline
· is a free standalone, bootable malware and virus remover from Microsoft.
· performs an offline scan of an infected PC to remove viruses, rootkits and other advanced malware.

Download Windows Defender Offline (about 764 kB)

You will have the choice of downloading the 32bit version (x86) or the 64 bit version (x64).
The link will help you determine whether you are running a 32 bit version or 64 bit version of Windows

NOTE!! You can download and prepare a 32 bit version using a 64 bit version of Windows
NOTE!! You can download and prepare a 64 bit version using a 32bit version of Windows.

You run the 32 bit version on a 32 bit version of Windows.
You run the 64 bit version on a 64 bit version of Windows.

The 32 bit download file name is: mssstool32.exe
The 64 bit download file name is: mssstool64.exe

For the curious, this program was originally name Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper.


INSTALLATION:
You will need an Internet Connection.
Insert 512 mB (Microsoft’s 256 mB is no longer accurate) or larger USB stick into a usb port.
Run the downloaded program--mssstool64.exe or mssstool32.exe
NEXT button
Choose the option On a USB flash drive that is not password protected
NEXT button
NEXT button
.
The install program will format the usb stick using the NTFS format.
The install program will download about 210 mB.
The install program will name the USB stick WDO_Media32 or WDO_Media64
The WDO_Media32 usb stick will have used space of 255 mB (268,140,544 bytes)
The WDO_Media64 usb stick will have used space of 282 mB (296,165,376 bytes)
You can expect the number of mB to increase as more malware appears.

UPDATE Windows Defender Offline USB stick:
· reinsert the usb stick
· run the installation program, mssstool64.exe or mssstool32.exe, again.
· the update will download about 66 mB (mssstool32.exe) and 68 mB (mssstool64.exe).

Since the malware database is sometimes updated several times in a day, always update before running.

PERFORM AN OFFLINE SCAN
Bootup your computer from the USB stick
Windows Defender Offline will automatically perform a quick scan.
After the quick scan finishes, Choose Full Scan
Select all of your drives

The initial, full scan can easily take several hours, but
Remember, your computer is being very thoroughly checked for all types of malware.


RESULTS OF THE SCAN
The results will be in 4 log files on your computer's disk in:
\Windows\Microsoft Antimalware\Support
Upload the four log files please.
==========================================
==============================================

 

[Duckbill]

Sorry I didn't get back to you, but I found out that my hard drive is failing. No idea if that's what's causing the problem, but it's a bit more important so I'm putting this on hold until I can deal with that.

 

[whs]

I suggest you gather the data that tell you what is going on. See here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...down-sleep-hibernate-reboot-trace.html?filter

 

[Duckbill]

OK, I made a shutdown trace: Shutdown_Trace.zip

I let it run while I was away, so I don't know how long that took.

 

[karlsnooks]

you might locate some informative data in the following script which gives entries in the event logs related to shutdown and bootup.

# **********************INSTRUCTIONS**************************
# STEP 1 ** RUN POWERSHELL AS ADMINISTRATOR ******************
# ************************************************************
#
# WIN key | type POWERSHELL | do NOT hit ENTER |
# in the PROGRAMS list, right-click on WINDOWS POWERSHELL |
# choose "Run as administrator" |
# Click on the YES button (if such appears)
#
# WIN key = key with Microsoft log on top
#
# for the guru:
# WIN | type POWERSHELL | CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER key combo | ALT+Y keycombo
# ************************************************************
# STEP 2 ** COPY AND PASTE ***********************************
# ************************************************************
#
# COPY the script using CTRL+C,
# COPY every line of script down thru both EXIT statements
#
# PASTE into Powershell
#----Right-Click at the PowerShell Prompt
#----(Ctrl+V does not work)
#
# Start copying with first script line without a # at start of the line
# Note: Actually, you can paste the entire file if you rather
#-------Lines starting with a # are ignored by PowerShell
# ************************************************************
# STEP 3 ** SCRIPT OUTPUT & SCRIPT PURPOSE *******************
# ************************************************************
# --The script output and purpose is given at the very front of the script
#
# --The script output and purpose is given at the very front of the script
#
# ************************************************************
# ***************** NOTE - POWERSHELL VERSION*****************
# if you receive this error msg:
#--The system can not find the path specified
# you may need to update your PowerShell
# you must be using Powershell 2.0 or later.
#
# To determine your Powershell version:
#---Run PowerShell
#---enter $host.version
#---you should see at least:
# Major Minor Build Revision
# ----- ----- ----- --------
# 2......0......-1.....-1
#
# If you do not see the above, update your Vista/Win 7.
# ************************************************************
# *************** NOTE - EXECUTION POLICY*********************
# If you haven't set the execution policy, you may need to:
#---Run PowerShell
#---enter SET-EXECUTIONPOLICY -EXECUTIONPOLICY REMOTESIGNED
# ************************************************************

==============================================
==============================================

# ************************************************************
# Places BootAndShutdownPerfomance.txt on your DESKTOP 
# Contains event data from Startup and Shutdown
# ************************************************************

$events = Get-WinEvent -filterhashtable @{logname = 'Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance/Operational'} `
-verbose:$false -force:$true
$f1 = @{label="Event ID";expression={$_.Id}}
$f2 = @{label="Time";expression={$_.timecreated}}
$f3 = @{label="Explanation";expression={$_.message}}

$events | sort timecreated -desc | fl $f1,$f2, $f3  > $env:userprofile\desktop\BootAndShutdownPerformance.txt

EXIT
EXIT

# ************************************************************

 

[Duckbill]

Thanks, I ran the script but all I get are a few 'This application took longer than usual to start up' events during startup, and no events during shutdown. I see shutdown durations ranging from 600 seconds to 1250 seconds.

It looks like, before the end of April, shutdown durations were consistently less than 200 seconds. I wonder what happened then?

 

[karlsnooks]

Even at 200 secs the shutdown time is horrendous.

Will await the analysis of the trace.

Normally you will see in those logs some entries indicating causative factors.

Zip up the file that the script generated and I'll take a look, although the traces are normally quite informative.

I don't like the program, but in this case you may find Soluto helpful. Just be sure to immediately uninstall the program as with the data that it continually collects and sends back, then I put the program in the spyware category.

http://www.soluto.com/

 

[Duckbill]

OK, here it is: BootAndShutdownPerformance.zip

I'll take a look at Soluto, thanks.

 

[karlsnooks]

Post a File or Screenshot in Seven Forums

 

[Duckbill]

Sorry, I was thinking of the instructions on the shutdown trace - that was a much larger file. It should be attached properly now.

 

[karlsnooks]

Uninstall TOR.

 

[karlsnooks]

Uninstall Risen

 

[karlsnooks]

Install CCleaner:
CCleaner - PC Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download

list of STARTUP PROGRAMS

CCleaner | Tools icon | Startup button | Windows tab |
click on Save to text file button (bottom right side) |
accept Startup.txt as file name | SAVE button

list of SCHEDULED TASKS

CCleaner | Tools icon | Startup button | Scheduled Tasks tab |
click on Save to text file button (bottom right side) |
enter Scheduled Tasks as File name | Save button

List of INSTALLED PROGRAMS

CCleaner | Tools icon | Uninstall button |
click on Save to text file button (bottom right side) |
accept install.txt as File name | Save button


UPLOAD, as an attachment, the startup.txt file
UPLOAD, as an attachment, the Scheduled Tasks.txt file
UPLOAD, as an attachment, the install.txt file.

HOW TO UPLOAD
Post a File or Screenshot in Seven Forums
----------------------------------------------------
I'll await those three files,
karl