Windows XP Restarts When You Try to Shut Down Your Computer

When you shut down your Windows XP-based computer, your computer may restart instead of shutting down, and you may see a blue screen for just a moment before the computer restarts.

The behavior can occur if the following conditions exist:

You have "automatically restart" selected. (Press WinKey-Break, or (Start/Run/Sysdm.cpl),  Advanced Tab, Start Up and Recovery/Settings/System Failure/Unmark "Automatically Restart"/Ok/Ok.

The Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.0 or Direct CD 5.0 program is installed on your computer.

Resolution:

To resolve this issue, contact Roxio or view the following Roxio Web site to download and install the updated driver for Easy CD Creator 5.0 for Windows XP:  http://www.roxio.com.  To work around this issue, uninstall Roxio Easy CD Creator or Direct CD.

Easy CD Creator 5.0 Does Not Function In Windows XP

When you attempt to use Easy CD Creator 5.0, you may see an error message that is similar to the following message on a blue screen, or your computer may become unstable:

Stop 0x00000050: PrtSeqRd deferencing null device object

Easy CD Creator 5.02b and earlier has not been tested or approved by Roxio for use on Windows XP.

As of October 22, 2001, the latest version for Easy CD Creator is version 5.02b; this version is known to have problems running on Windows XP. Easy CD driver updates from Roxio are available from the following Roxio Web site:

http://www.roxio.com/en/support/ecdc/ecdcupdates.jhtml
http://www.roxio.com/en/company/roxio_xp.jhtml

More Information:

Windows XP may encounter a problem during startup that results in a STOP error message. Depending on the system configuration, the error message on a blue screen may not be displayed long enough to record the error information. To gather important information about the STOP error message and to verify the cause:

Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
Click to clear the Automatically restart check box under System failure, and then click OK. The error message on a blue screen should remain on the screen so you can record the error information.

Instantly Reboot Upon a System Fault

Start/Run/Regedit. Navigate to...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl

In the right pane choose AutoReboot/Right Click/Modify. Change value to 0 to disable and 1 to enable.

Windows Hangs While Saving Your Settings

When you shut down your computer, Microsoft Windows XP may stop responding (hang) while the following message is displayed:  Saving your settings. When this occurs, you may be able to move the mouse pointer, but when you press CTRL+ALT+DEL, nothing happens. This issue may occur only occasionally. Supported Fix: "Restarting Windows XP".

Modify Hung App Time

Start/Run/Regedit. Navigate to...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

In the right pane, choose HungAppTimeout/Right Click/Modify/Change Value/Exit/Reboot.

Force Program Exit

Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop In the right pane find, "AutoEndTasks" (Create if not present). Set the Value of 0 or delete it. No reboot needed.

Disable Error Reporting

Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Advanced/Error Reporting/Disable.

Windows Boots without Warning!

By default when WinXP encounters a system failure, it reboots without warning. The setting that controls this can be changed:
Control Panel/System/Advanced/Settings (Startup & Recovery)/System Failure/Uncheck-Automatically Restart. To view the event log: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/eventvwr.To bypass the BSOD altogether and enable the instant "Auto Reboot" feature:  Start/Run/Regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl.  Right click on "AutoReboot", modify and change the value to 1. Exit, reboot. To disable set the value back to 0.

Windows® Online Crash Analysis

If you experience a blue screen crash event, or Stop error, while using Microsoft Windows XP, you can upload the error report for analysis. http://oca.microsoft.com/welcome.asp

By default when WinXP encounters a system failure, it reboots without warning. The setting that controls this can be changed:
Control Panel/System/Advanced/Settings (Startup & Recovery)/System Failure/Uncheck-Automatically Restart. To view the event log: Admistrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/eventvwr.

To bypass the BSOD altogether and enable the instant "Auto Reboot" feature, run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl

Right click on "AutoReboot", modify and change the value to 1. Exit, reboot. To disable set the value back to 0.

Windows® Online Crash Analysis

If you experience a blue screen crash event, or Stop error, while using Microsoft Windows XP, you can upload the error report for analysis. http://oca.microsoft.com/welcome.asp

Force Exit

Start/Run/Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
In the right pane find, "AutoEndTasks" (Create if not present). Set the Value of 0 or delete it. No reboot needed.

 

The Computer Continuously Restarts

When you start your computer, the Microsoft Windows XP start up screen appears, and then the computer restarts. The Windows XP logon screen does not appear.  This error can occur if the Kernel32.dll file is missing or damaged.

To resolve this issue, use the Windows Recovery Console to extract a new copy of the Kernel32.dll file from the original Windows XP compact disc (CD). To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start the Recovery Console. If you do not have the Recovery Console installed, start it from the Windows XP compact disc (CD). To do this, follow these steps:

 a. Insert the Windows XP CD and restart the computer. If prompted, select any options required to boot from the CD.

 b. When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts; choose the repair or recover option by pressing R.

 c. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot system, choose the installation that you need to access from the recovery console.

 d. When prompted, type the Administrator password.

2. At the command prompt, type "cd system32" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

3. Type "ren kernel32.dll kernel32.old" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

4. Type "map" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

5. Note the drive letter assigned to the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD. It is displayed in a format similar to the following:  D: \Device\CdRom0

6. Type "expand <drive>\i386\kernel32.dl_" (without the quotation marks) (where <drive> is the drive letter of the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD), and then press ENTER. For example:

  Expand d:\i386\kernel32.dl_ <ENTER>

Note the underscore character after the "L" in Kernel32.dl_

The following message appears:  Kernel32.dll, 1 file(s) expanded.

7. Type "exit" (without the quotation marks). The computer restarts.

8. Remove the Windows XP CD and start the computer normally.

How to Install the Windows Recovery Console

Disable Error Checking at Startup

Start/Run/Regedit.  In the right pane, delete this entry: BootExecute autocheck  autochk*

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

Disable/Remove Serious Error Message Upon Boot

Start/Control Panel/System/Advanced/Performance/Settings/Advanced/Virtual Memory/Change/Set to 0. Reboot/Reset Pagefile to System Managed Size.

Disable Windows XP's Windows Tour Prompt for all Users

Start/Run/Regedit. Navigate to...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets

In the right pane, locate Tour (if it doesn't exist, add it. Edit/New/Key. Then select New Value and set it to 0).

To set the same option for users, navigate to...and repeat the above steps.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets

Disable Unnecessary Programs at Startup

Start/Run/Regedit. Right Click/Delete unnecessary programs listed here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Runonce HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Disable or Enable Boot Defrag

Start/Run/Regedit. Navigate to...
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction

Select Enable in the right pane/Right Click/Modify/Change Value to Y to enable, N to disable. Exit/Reboot.