Windows 98 SE Shutdown hangs

[A31]

Hi all. I just got an old ThinkPad with Windows 98 on it, because it was so slow I just re-installed Windows 98 Second Edition on it yesterday and now I'm getting the problem with the shutdown hanging when it says under the Windows 98 logo 'Windows is shutting down'. It just never does shut down.

Did Microsoft ever bother to release to a patch to fix this annoying bug? If so can someone please post me the download link so I can download and install it!!

Thanks
A31

[Neil]

Problems Shutting Down Windows 98 Second Edition

[Mike Blake]

Now there's an issue I thought I'd seen the last of. I had that MS article bookmarked when I was supporting Win98SE. A few comments on some of the things it mentions:

"There is a damaged Exit Windows sound file."
Oddly enough, turning off all Windows sounds once in a while helped, even though when played in Windows itself the .wav file sounded fine.

"There is an incompatible Advanced Power Management (APM) or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) setting."
Yeah, back then the PM & ACPI systems were often flakey, and turning the whole thing off would make the problem go away sometimes. Since these were all desktops, it didn't make much difference to the PC.

Later on it mentions antivirus programs. That was a big cause of it, especially/mostly if they were configured to do a "shutdown scan."

Note the file it wants you to download mostly removes the option for a fast shutdown feature:

"After you apply the Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement, the Disable Fast Shutdown option is no longer listed on the Advanced tab in Msconfig.exe."

You could always just go there and turn it off yourself.

[dr_st]

Sometimes certain resident applications can cause problems during shutdown. I have an old Win98 machine (desktop with AMD K6-II CPU), and usually it shuts down fine (maybe once in a while it hangs). However there was one applications that consistently caused it to hang during shut down if it was resident. I don't remember which one - it was either RealVNC server or Process Explorer.

[A31]

Thanks for all the replies - I got it *sort of* working by using the MS Patch which disables fast shutting down. I upgraded the RAM from 128MB to 384MB and that also (Weirdly) helped a little as well...

Sometimes hangs but now when i shut down it's black with a Blinking cursor on the screen and I just push the Power Off button and it's fine...

"There is a damaged Exit Windows sound file."
Oddly enough, turning off all Windows sounds once in a while helped, even though when played in Windows itself the .wav file sounded fine.

Speakers on this laptop are dead, so I could disable all the Windows sounds as well to try and help.

Note the file it wants you to download mostly removes the option for a fast shutdown feature:

I downloaded this 'patch' from Microsoft (Update No. Q241134) which did just that... and to be fair it has made it a bit better but not 100%