VISTA HM. PREM. 32bit. SHUT-DOWN ISSUE

[scottbach]

This is an older Gateway GM5260 desktop. Fortunately, it is not my primary computer so this issue is more of an annoyance than a crisis. During shutdown the computer does appear to go into a sleep or hibernated mode as the screen shuts down and the power button light goes off. The machine even does a quick (and I do mean quick) power off but then immediately starts running again. I do have to push the power button to initiate a normal start up. At the time, I was running MicroTrend's House call version 8 beta 32 bit anti-virus check, Spybot check followed by a defrag and C drive clean up which is something I try to do once a month or so. House Call did say it found a threat but seemed to eliminate it by the time it had completed it's check. After all of this is when I discovered the shut-down issue. This machine originally came with XP and the option to upgrade to Vista Home Premium. When I re-installed, I did XP first then the Vista upgrade. I haven't visited Gateway's web site yet nor have I attempted to update my BIOS. Please bear in mind some of the things you may suggest are above my pay grade as I am a simple novice when it comes to computers.

 

[Cytherian]

Ah, OK. Now I get it. So, you are actually shutting down normally, it's just that the computer decides to start up again shortly afterward. Thus, you hit the power switch in the back before it has a chance to initiate the "restart", and thus Windows won't complain of an abnormal shut down.

It's starting to look a lot like a hardware issue, especially if involving a "restart" from the operating system doesn't result in a complete power off as it does when you do a shut down. If it was software, at the very most it would be something that triggers a restart and at boot up time some 3rd party software is executed that is eluding your anti-virus software. But like you say, the computer does a complete power off, but only very briefly. It's as if you pressed the power button again shortly after it has shut down.

I would take this issue up with the Gateway support community. They should have a support website and someone there will likely know this hardware much better than any of us here (unless we've got a Gateway guru on board!).