# [SOLVED] Computer won't shut down correctly



## flydonna (Nov 20, 2007)

I have had a lot of trouble lately with my computer freezing up and not shutting down correctly. One time I shut down my computer (through shut down button) and I left for a meeting. When my husband came home 4 hours later, the computer still said "shutting down", so he shut it down using the power button. Tonight I went to shut it down and when I came back 1 hour later, it said it was waiting for a background program to shutdown, but there was nothing listed - and I couldn't force the shutdown. I finally had to use the power button to shut it down. I know that is not the way to shut down a computer - and I'm probably causing myself more problems. I don't know how to diagnose what is happening. I have a Dell Inspiron that is about 4 yrs old. I run Windows 7 Home Edition, Microsoft Essentials, CCleaner, and MalwareBytes. Please help me understand what is happening and how to fix it. When I restart the computer it always asks if I want to start in SAFE MODE, etc - or start Windows normally. Since I don't know what to do, I just started in Normal Mode. I'm really baffled.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Computer won't shut down correctly*

If your computer cannot shut down because there is a program running press *CTRL+ALT+DEL* and start the *Task Manager.* Any programs still running under the *Applications* tab, you can choose to* End task*. If there are no programs there, go to the *Processes* tab, see if anything you had open recently is still running, like *I*nternet *E*xplorer, Outlook, Word etc. And *End the Process*. 
Next time you boot into Windows, go to Start/Search and type *CMD*, Right click the *CMD* results and* Run As Administrator.* In the Elevated *Command Prompt* type *chkdsk /R *and press enter. Now type a *Y* for Yes. Then restart the computer. *Check Disk *will start at the next bootup and go through 5 stages and it will take a long while. This may solve the problem, but if it fails the HDD needs to be replaced.
If Check Disk passes, but you still have problems, then try running a Clean Boot. If this works, then add one startup item at a time until the computer does not shut down. Then you know what the problematic program is.


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## flydonna (Nov 20, 2007)

*Re: Computer won't shut down correctly*

A clarification - when I said the computer was waiting for a background program to close, I tried doing Cntl Alt Delte to get to Task Manager. The computer never took me to Task Manager - it just stayed at the screen that it was waiting for a program to close. 

I ran the Check Disk and it didn't show any problems. How do I do a clean boot??

Today after running the check disk, I rebooted the computer and when I shut it down, it worked great. That's why this is so frustrating. It doesn't happen all the time, but I hate shutting the computer down by the power button.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Computer won't shut down correctly*

*Check Disk *may have solved your problem. 
If you click on this link for Clean Boot it will explain how to do it. But it looks like you won't have to.


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## flydonna (Nov 20, 2007)

*Re: Computer won't shut down correctly*

I didn't realize that check disk "corrected or fixed" anything. I thought it just looked for bad spots on the HD. I bookmarked the page that told how to do a Clean Boot. For the time being I will run the computer like normal and see what happens. THANKS!


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Computer won't shut down correctly*

Check Disk with the* /R* switch will _Fix_ bad sectors on a HDD, but it also finds orphaned files, and fixes those too. 
If this solved your problem, please mark this thread Solved in the Thread Tools at the top.


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