I am having this problem with this box, where the floppy drive is grinding as if looking for a file, when i try to shut down. Some times it lasts for afew seconds, sometimes it won't stop until i have to manualy shut the box down.
ASUS A7N8X-X MOBO
AMD ATHLON2400 CHIP
512 MB PC400 MEMORY
WESTERN DIGITAL 7200 120 MB HD
ATI ALL IN WONDER 9600 VIDO

I have had this problem on some older boxes, but all i had to do was clear the recently opened documents folder, and everything would be ok.
Does win XP have this feature......can't seem to find it.
Thanks for any help.