98SE won't shut down

Morning all, from southwestern Virginia where right now, (11:25 a.m. Mon Oct 24), it is gray, cold and dreary. Among my many computers, is an oldie but goodie. It's an AMD 800mHz with 256MB memory and a 20GB hard drive. Running Win98SE version 4.10.2222 A

About two weeks ago, I installed a new USB card to upgrade to 2.0, then a LinkSys wireless USB device. They installed a new L.O.S. tower nearby and I gladly entered the real web world running at T1 speeds.

Now I have a minor but annoying problem: At end of day, when I shut down, the computer gets as far as the standard Windows logo in the cloudy blue sky, where it says "Windows is shutting down..." and it doesn't. I have to manually hit reset or power off.

When I shut down after only brief period of work, it shut's down properly.

Latest updates installed from Microsoft, Running ProlandPlus virus checker - no problems detected. Defrag regulary, etc. And start-up shows no indications of a previous bad shutdown.

My memory, (human-type), vaguely recalls a problem like this several years ago, caused by an old driver that needed replaced, but I can't remember details.

Anyone got any ideas??

Thanks,

John
Roanoke, Virigina

Welcome to Windrivers jmar2

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I think a bunch of us added up the reasons for none shutdown in 98 and got to about 47....

Thanks, that is exactly what I needed. One thing that happened while troubleshooting: the LinkSys 801 driver failed and rebuilt/reinstalled itself. So far, shutdown now working ok. If it fails again, I'll start at top of your list and narrow it down.

One additional question. Just before LinkSys reported corrupted driver and did its own reinstall, (cheeky software), the blue screen of death appeared telling me:
Fatal Exception 0E at 0028:C02A27A8 in VXD VWIN32(05)

Now I realize that and s couple of dollars will get me a cup of coffee, but do you know what program or group of programs it's referencing? VXD VWIN sounds vaguely monitor/screen related.

Thanks again,

John

VWIN is one of those virtual buckets windows uses to create all sorts of virtual drivers... here's a few known issues

Failure of W98 to shut down properly is one of the most common problems with the OS. It can be due to driver issues, problems with specific devices stemming from Plug ' Play issues (including problems your BIOS may have working with new hardware), etcetera, etcetera. Usually, I think diagnosing and fixing these is not worth the investment in time and sweat. If you can wait 15-30 seconds after the "shutting down" message and then hold the power button in for 4 seconds or so untill the computer powers off, AND not see Scandisk run at startup, I'd just ignore the issue. If you see scandisk run consistently, then I would say you might want to try troubleshooting shutdown. Also, RIGHT NOW would be a very good time to back up any important files.

SLgrieb, I have a 98 machine at home, I know exactly what is causing it and it produces a scandisk every time... while your advice is sound, it is not necessarily the case every time. The driver in question is for the cheapest possible wirless nic... one day I will get annoyed and invest some money in a new card.

I am having some of the same problems but my OS is Win ME. Everytime you shut down, the system will restart on its own. I can do manual shut down but sometimes you have to try several times before it will shut down. I saw all the posting for 98 but does any one know about (UGH) Win ME.

here is the ME shutdown troubleshooter

Right, Noo. I have no illusions about being infallible. Delusions perhaps, but that's another subject. I'd still say that, in general, W98 shutdown issues that cause scandisk to run are worth a look because they may indicate malware issues, failing drives, malignant curses, or just plain bad Karma. Given W98's file corruption tendencies, I'd say that anything that makes scandisk run is worth a look even if it turns out to be non-critical.

Thank you so much. It has been driving us nuts trying to figure out the problem.

Slgrieb, yup I agree. Once you know what the problem is, then it's not so scary.