Australian PC World - Training Windows 95 to hang up properly

Training Windows 95 to hang up properly

Tip
Many readers complain that Win 95 hangs when they shut down, so they never get to see that tasteful black screen announcing it's safe to turn off the PC. To put your hearts (and PCs) at rest, try these tips. They're designed for incomplete exits, but most are handy for all-purpose troubleshooting.
1. Check for problem programs. It's likely that the problem is a running application, rather than Windows itself. Restart Windows with the <Shift> key held down to disable the launching of programs in your StartUp folder and put Windows in "safe" mode. Then exit and see if the problem goes away. If it does, remove all but one Shortcut from your StartUp group, and try again. If all goes well, add one more Shortcut back and try again. Repeat until you find the program causing the hang-up.
If that doesn't find the problem, test for any programs started by the win.ini file: choose Start--Run, type sysedit, and press <Enter>. In the win.ini window, type a semicolon at the beginning (extreme left) of the "load=" and "run=" lines to prevent any applications listed there from launching at startup. If that fixes things, make a note of everything on these lines and remove all but one item; then restart and exit Windows. As before, add listed applications one at a time, restarting and exiting each time until you find the application that's causing the problem. Then contact the manufacturer to get an update or a suggested work-around.
2. Study the startup. Find out if the problem stems from a line in the notorious autoexec.bat or config.sys files. Restart the computer and press <F8> as soon as you see "Starting Windows 95" on your screen. Choose the Step-by-Step Confirmation option and answer Yes (press y) when prompted whether to load DoubleSpace drivers, process the System Registry, and load himem.sys, ifshlp.sys, the Windows interface and all Windows drivers. Answer No (press n) to all other prompts. Exit and see if the problem persists.
If the problem is gone, repeat the steps in this tip, but this time press y for the above-mentioned items, plus one item that you previously blocked from loading. Again, shut down and see what happens. Repeat, loading one additional item each time until you find the problem.
3. Manage your memory. To rule out an upper memory conflict, make a backup copy of config.sys and start the System Configuration Editor as described in tip 1. Edit config.sys to include the line device=c:\windows\himem.sys followed by the line device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems x=a000-f7ff (paths may differ on your system). This disables access to upper memory (the area between your first 640K and 1024K) by terminate-and-stay resident programs unless the software is specifically designed to access upper memory unaided. Save the file, restart your computer, and then exit Windows.
If the problem has gone away, the cause is likely an upper memory conflict. Running the Microsoft Diagnostics utility in MS-DOS mode (type msd at the prompt in your Windows folder) can identify some software that uses upper memory, but you may need to refer to your documentation or talk to the manufacturer to ferret out hardware conflicts. Once you find the competing entities, consult their documentation on assigning upper memory.
4. Veto the virtual device. Find out if the problem lies with a virtual device driver loaded in system.ini. Start the System Configuration Editor as described in tip 1 and, in the system.ini file, locate the heading "[386enh]". Put a semicolon at the beginning of each line that follows, beginning with "device=" and ending with ".386". Save the file, restart your PC, then exit Windows. If this fixes things, return to the System Configuration Editor and remove one semicolon. Go through the save-restart-exit ritual again to see if the problem returns. Repeat until you find the errant device driver.
If you're lucky, the file's name, path or comments on the line will give you a clue as to its associated product. You can then contact the driver's manufacturer for help.
5. File it down. Your computer may not get along with Windows 95's file system settings. To check this one out, right-click My Computer and choose Properties. Click the Performance tab and click File System. Click the Troubleshooting tab and check each of the boxes in this properties sheet. Click OK, then Close, then Yes to restart your system. If this solves the problem, you can leave all these settings checked, or experiment with unchecking them one at a time. Once you find the guilty party or parties, you'll need to leave them checked.

Use Windows 95's File System Properties sheet to rule out problems caused by these settings

6. Silence the sound. Trying to play a corrupted sound file when you exit could be the cause of your problems. To eliminate that possibility, choose Start--Settings--Control Panel. Double-click the Sounds icon. In the Events list, select Exit Windows and choose (None) from the Name drop-down list. Click Yes, click OK, and exit Windows. If all goes well, get an uncorrupted version from the original source.
7. Shut down the speaker. To rule out problems with the PC speaker driver, start the System Configuration Editor as described in tip 1; in the system.ini file, look for the line "wave=speaker.drv". If you find it, place a semicolon at the beginning of the line. Save system.ini, restart your system, and then shut down. If this solves the problem, get a new driver -- or consider investing in a new sound system.
8. Purge the power. If your system supports Advanced Power Management, that feature could be to blame. Right-click My Computer and choose Properties. Click the Device Manager tab, then double-click the Advanced Power Management icon. Click the Settings tab, then uncheck Enable Power Management. Click OK twice to close the dialogue boxes. Restart your computer and shut down Windows. If the problem is gone, contact your system's manufacturer for help.
9. Do away with devices. Check out devices and drivers in the Device Manager. If you haven't found the problem so far, you're in for some fun -- not!
Right-click My Computer and choose Properties. Click the Hardware Profiles tab. Select Original Configuration and click Copy. Name the new profile Test Configuration and click OK. Then click the Device Manager tab. Select the Computer icon and press * on the numeric keypad to expand the branches in the tree. At the end of one branch, double-click a device icon to open its properties sheet. Click the General tab and uncheck the Test Configuration box (not every device displays this). Then click OK.
Repeat for every device in the tree. If any of them prompts you to restart Windows, select No, unless the device is a PCI hard disk controller. Since this cannot be unloaded dynamically you must restart your PC.
After you've unloaded all possible devices from your test configuration, restart your PC. Windows will whine about not knowing which configuration you want; choose the option for the Test Configuration. When Windows starts, you'll get error messages about your video not being properly installed; click Cancel in both the message box and the Display Properties sheet. Now shut down Windows 95 again and see if things are better.
If so, the problem is one of the devices or device drivers. Return to the Device Manager, open a Properties sheet for one device and check Test Configuration. Restart Windows, then shut down again. Repeat until the hanging problem recurs; at that point you know the last device you added to the test configuration is the culprit. Contact the manufacturer to make sure you have the latest driver and that it is properly configured. Leaving it out of your normal configuration won't help if you have a Plug and Play system because Windows will automatically configure it again the next time you start up, which brings back your hanging problem.
When you're finished testing, right-click My Computer, choose Properties and click the Hardware Profiles tab. Select Original Configuration, and then restart your computer. Go back to My Computer--Properties--Hardware Profiles, select Test Configuration, and click Delete.

Spot the problem device by adding devices to a test configuration

10. Crush corruption. Try reinstalling Windows 95 to a new directory. If the new installation lacks the old problems, your original configuration probably had one or more corrupt files. If your PC still does not shut down properly, and you have a Plug and Play BIOS, try installing Windows again with the command line setup /p I to overlook Plug and Play. If this succeeds, you may have a defective BIOS.
11. Boot it out. Check out the last line of the bootlog.txt file. (This file could be in your root directory or in the Windows folder; make sure you view the most recent one.) This could tell you the last thing Windows successfully terminated as part of its shutdown process. If it ends with "EndTerminate= KERNEL", shutdown was normal. Otherwise, the last item on a "terminate=" line may clue you in to a possible source of the problem, to wit: Query Drivers (a memory manager like QEMM), Unload Network (real-mode network drivers in config.sys), Reset Display (video driver), RIT (sound card or old mouse driver) or Win32 (some 32-bit program like Microsoft Visual C for Windows).
12. Seek a higher power. If none of these tactics bears fruit, you may have a hardware problem or need to change your CMOS settings back to their factory defaults. In either case, you're best advised to talk to your system manufacturer. To tinker with your CMOS on your own (not for the faint of heart), write down all the current settings before doing so.
- Scott Dunn

Category: Win95
Issue: May 1997
Pages: 154-157