CF-30 slow to shut down

as noted in another thread in this forum , i am putting together a CF-30 MK1/c-d with vista business .
the last major pain was the wireless card and drivers ... this has been rectified .

there is an issue in reference to the rather lengthy time it takes for the laptop to shut down .
the machine boots up nicely for what it is , about 30 seconds , very respectable time .
the shutdown takes about 2.5 minutes !
i have looked in task manager ... nothing untoward in there .
i have turned off as many superfluous fluff programs and services as i can .
i do not have a bunch of junk installed .
i have uninstalled the AV (avast) ... no difference .

i have checked the settings back in "power management" :
it can go to sleep when the lid closes
the "power button" will shut the machine down
the soft power button will shut the machine down ... not put it to sleep .

i do not like to think about reloading the OS from scratch ... but if need be , i'll do it .
i can't help but think that there is an answer to this .
i can flash the bios to "bring it back" to the bios for vista if that is a solution (i believe it had W7 on it originally) .
my other CF-30 boots up in about the same length of time and shuts down quickly and the bios is for vista .

 

The official recovery disk for this laptop is the easiest solution. Click link below. He will fix you up.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=107548

Program to tweak Windows. Has controls to adjust shutdown times.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista

 

Vista likes to have a lot of stuff running in the background, and give each program 30 seconds or more to shut down. To speed this up you need to change the waiting time for programs to turn off to zero. A easy way to do this get the UWT. Ultimate windows tweaker from the windows club. Under the performance tab it will allow you to do this on three different sliders. Remember to apply before going to another tab or it wont' save you settings. And you have to right click and run as administrator.

Sometimes after updates vista also like to change setting back to what it thinks it should be, not where you had it. Also go into sounds and disable Startup and shut down sound. That will save some time also.

 

" ... to change setting back to what it thinks it should be, not where you had it"

sounds like an old ex-girlfriend .
:laugh:

i downloaded UWT earlier and used their recommended settings of "1/3 of the maximum" ,,, there was no appreciable change .
i'll drop it all to zero and see what happens .
there is a helluva lag after clicking the soft "shutdown" before the vista "logging off" screen shows ... after that it is only a few seconds and it is shutdown .
to my notion , it seems like it is hanging on *something* .
this is why i wanted to try to revert the bios with the thought that if there was something in there that was causing the lag it would eliminate it (or at least the possibility) .

 

Besides software, it may be something hardware wise doing it. Vista always gave me trouble with tweaking. I would get it running right, then a update changed it. Try swapping out DVD drives or anything like that to see what it does speed wise.

 

during the shutdown sequence (after the desktop finally goes black) a windows opens very briefly stating the "windows explorer needs to shut down" and a few seconds later the machine goes to the "logging off" screen and then the machine shuts down in a matter of seconds .
however , after the initial "shutdown" command it takes 2.5 minutes to actually complete .

i decided to wipe the first few percent of the HDD and do a fresh install of vista .
i am going to load the updates , drivers and such , a few at a time in order to find out where things go awry .
as it stands , with just a fresh install and nothing else , windows boots up fast and shuts down fast .
(heh , just like all fresh installs do until ya start loading down the wagon and the horse can't pull it)

as i mentioned earlier , the only major difference between the two machines i have here is the bios/ec version .
perhaps *something* got corrupted along the way ... hard to say .

 

Something else you can try is a alternative shell. It completely replaces explorer.exe It will make your desktop look and act way different.

 

yeah ... a different desktop .
that is what i like about all the 'nix based OSes .
i have pretty much settled on linux mint w/MATE as it has the best "old style" (read : non-fisher/price) gui .
ubuntu lost me when they started playing/sucking up to the touch screen crowd .

there are a couple of good 'nix based forensic package OSes ...
i feel they need a little more development .

so far , the vista re-install is going well ... after many updates the start up and shutdown are fast .

 

Glad Vista is working better.

Just wait until you see the new forum software they are "upgrading" to in the next few weeks/month.
(I hope my first opinion is incorrect, we will see)

Here is a sneak peek of Rick (Toughbook) beta testing the new software.

 

:laugh::laugh:

 

i have almost finished with the first round of updates ... the last two are being installed as i write this .
the plan is "10 at a time" , restart , when the HDD light is done blinking like a disco i shut down the machine (denoting the time involved and at what stage in the sequence) .
when i restart the machine i check the time involved with boot up to a working desktop .

i have hidden some updates (ie : windows search 4) to be installed later on a single basis .
also ... all the "defender" , "malicious removal" and such updates are hidden .

interestingly , the last two updates i installed (all that was left) required no restart ... but ... when i shut the machine down it took much longer than "normal" .
i have booted it back up and it took longer as well .
the HDD light is blinking like crazy .
/me walks away and gets cup of coffee
ok ... three shutdown and reboot sequences have cut down the times appreciably .
whew !
one of those last two updates gave some fits .

on to SP2 !

 

1. Open the Registry Editor (RegEdit.exe).

2. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to: System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control

3. In the right pane of RegEdit, right-click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout and select Modify from the drop-down menu.

Note: If WaitToKillServiceTimeout does not exist:

Create it by right-clicking in the right pane of the registry editor and select New\String Value from the drop-down menu.


Rename New Value #1 that is created to WaitToKillServiceTimeout and press enter - then follow the instruction given above in step 3.


4. In the Edit String dialog box change the 20000 in the "Value Data" section to 5000.

5. Click OK button.

6. Exit the Registry Editor (RegEdit.exe).

I've done this on just about every machine I have set up.

 

i'll keep this in mind ... when i get done with SP2 and some other stuff i'll implement it .

i have been working on my 2007 grand prix for a few hours ...
the blower motor stopped .
the motor is ok
the PWM controller/driver module (pulse width modulator) is ok
pwm signal from the speed selector is present
what is missing is +12VDC .
i found out that the ignition switch is the prime suspect .
i soldered a set of wires to the blower motor and ran them back to a 12V socket on the console ...
a 12V plug on the end and the blower will work until further testing/proving can be done and a replacement ignition switch ordered up .

i told the gf what was going on and she said : "the blower quit on me a couple of times in the last two days ... i turned the ignition off and on and it worked ..." .
i guess that pretty much cinches the ignition switch heading south .

 

Yeah... My BMW did that. It was the FSR... Final Stage Resistor that plugs in under the dash.

 

heh ...
my gf said not to bother with it because we won't need the blower for another week or so .
"are you serious ?"

guess what ... there's frost on the punkins this morning .
:laugh:

 

Let her drive it for a while with no heater. I bet she changes her mind fast.

 

heh ... yeah ...
it's called "the guided discovery" .
:wink: :laugh:

 

When she complains the response will be " But Honey, you said don't worry about the heater" "I'm just doing what YOU said"

 

yeppers ...
passive aggressive much ?
HAH !

 

i just finished with the SP2 and all the updates that come after it :
the bootup time is about 30 seconds
shutdown is around 10 seconds
this is a marked improvement from how the original install performed .

i want to try installing a couple of the updates that i hid earlier .

i am going to try to get the boot up time lower before i continue with loading the panasonic drives an such .
i have had some luck in the past with "defraggler" .
and as much as i do not recommend "cleaning the registry" to neophytes and novices ,,, i am going to venture into that area .

i feel that with a system that runs smoothly before any of the panasonic or other drivers are installed will allow me to more easily "point a finger" at the culprit .

 

As long as you are not running a SSD... Defrag is your friend!

Try CCleaner to get your Registry in shape.

Tell your GF that you are working on your Toughbook so that you can diagnose the issue with the car. That will buy you the weekend!

 

"Tell your GF that you are working on your Toughbook so that you can diagnose the issue with the car."

that's a good idea ... however , it won't work .
she already knows that i am building and beating this '30 into shape for a friend .

yep ... i have used both defraggler and ccleaner for years ... judiciously .
i try to put a warning in place when i mention using it and/or anything "registry related" .
the registry is like an old outhouse when it is -20F : you go there only when it is absolutely necessary as a last resort .
i have seen many systems borked because of "registry cleaners" ... especially the bogus ones that want to sell you something or have malware in them .
and i can name quite a few .
beyond that , the inexperienced individuals do not make backups of the entries "off disk" and don't know how to go about recovering from a disaster .

that said , things are progressing ... i have started to install the panasonic drivers (etc) .
the machine is booting fairly fast and shutting down in the same manner .
again , i am letting windows get done ratcheting the hard drive and then shutting down and restarting .
it can take three sequence executions before the times are low .

what would be nice is an "absolutely needed" listing or folder of the bare essentials in order to avoid things like the "loupe" application .
the next level would be those things associated with certain specific needs based upon what is installed soft/hardware wise .
the third level would be the superfluous eye candy and fodder .

 

i believe i have found a/the problem ...
the boot and shutdown times were pretty good until i installed the "hotkey driver" .
i uninstalled the hotkey driver and upon reboot , it was re-installed .
i went back in to the device manager and under the advanced section associated with it , i deleted the software and then uninstalled it .
i also went to add/remove programs and uninstalled the "hotkey appendix application" .
yeah ,,, i don't have revo installed in this thing ... yet .

i am waiting for the HDD/windows to stop shufflin' and restackin' ... then we shall see .

 

that fixed it ... after waiting for the "windows shuffle" and a couple of re-starts , things are back to booting/shutting down as they were before .
so , are the hotkey functions really needed ?
i think i have used hotkeys a couple of times over the years .
i wonder if the bios/ec differences would account for this ... the bios on my machine (works fine) , it is the one that TB provided the link to (and i can't find that link!)

/me gets cup of coffee ...
onward !

 

i am pretty much done with the drivers for the time being .
i have installed avast and defraggler ... the comp still boots and shuts down quickly for what it is .
defraggler indicated 28% fragmentation ... on a new install !
add that to the crap that windows left behind in the registry .
sooo ... i hit the go button on defraggler and i am headed for the rain room and then the snore shell .

 

I suggest making a restore DVD as soon as you finish the installs.

 

good idea shawn .
i'll be doing that in a couple of days ... i have to finish a couple of items on it .
the databases that will be used in conjunction with the build are going to be fair sized .
i am almost tempted to try to figure out a way to add another HDD with a usb adapter to it (internally) .

the dual internal drive idea is not exactly a new thought (pertaining to laptops) .
i have an older toshiba that (i finally figured out) has dual drives ... this confused me for a bit as they showed up as two lettered drives labeled "OS" and "data/recovery" .
i thought nothing about it , it's just a single partitioned drive ...
i flipped the machine over , pulled the HDD cover and yanked the drive and popped in a SSD to load linux mint on .
when i booted the machine and ran the live installer , i was given the option to install mint along side of vista ... WTH ? .
i flipped the machine over ... there was another cover on the other end of the laptop ... sure enough , another HDD !
this is another case of "i think" and "i thought" .
:wink:

 

These will fit in the rear usb ports with the door closed. Minor trimming. 64gb each

Cruzer Fit USB Flash Drive by SanDisk

 

'Minor trimming"

batteries not included ...
subject to local conditions ...
guaranteed not to warp , chip , peel or run down at the heel ...
void where prohibited by law ...
complete with cheesy chrome plated fluer de lis knobs that fall off in your hands ...
call us direct , call us collect but call us today !

that looks like a solution as those backside usb ports are not easily accessible anyway .
my friend uses a wireless mouse setup on his current laptop ... i think it is bluetooth based .
i am pretty sure something like that would work for him

 

Like these. msata to standard sata or usb. I thought about putting one where the wwan sled normally goes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-mSATA-SSD-Female-To-2-5-7-15-Pin-SATA-Male-USB-5pin-Converter-Card-/271509501388?pt=US_Motherboard_Diagnostic_Cards&hash=item3f373a35cc

 

that is a good idea ...
how about one of these ... would they fit *somewhere* ?
Computers & Tablets, All Laptop Accessories, Internal SSDs, 1.8" - Newegg.com
this would avoid the use of an adapter .

 

You still need an adapter to go from a 1.8" drive to usb...

 

hmmm ...
doesn't the adapter you linked to plug into the sata port in the wwan slot ?

 

oh yeah ... do i need drivers for the sony 5005 gps module ?
i think i am gong to have a fun time with it .

 

What sata port on the wwan slot? It's usb only on the sled.

Yes the gps driver on at the Panasonic site.

Panasonic Toughbook Computer Support Downloads

http://pc-dl.panasonic.co.jp/dl/search?dc[]=002001


this search will help.
https://www.google.com/search?num=20&safe=off&pws=0&q=cf+30+gps++site%3Aforum.notebookreview.com%2Fpanasonic&oq=cf+30+gps++site%3Aforum.notebookreview.com%2Fpanasonic&gs_l=serp.3...8214.8214.0.9624.1.1.0.0.0.0.115.115.0j1.1.0....0...1c.1.55.serp..1.0.0.xW52lZg669I

 

i was looking at the picture you posted .

 

The photo is a generic adapter. The sleds have a mini pcie slot which only recognizes wwan cards. The slot is usb only, but you could tap into that usb port and use it for other things.

CF30 sled

 

............................

 

ohhh ... ok . that explains it .

i have installed the 5005 gps module and am looking at it with navigator ...
the birds pop in momentarily and then go away .

i can't get the gps registry patch to load but the mouse is stable ... back in the bios i set the gps to "auto" .

i'll try the drivers/links you posted .

 

ok ...
i am beginning to get the idea that these sony GXB5005 units are actually a POS-1 .
after running for several minutes i get several birds popping in and out but no "lock" .

oh yeah ... the MK1 version of the gps registry file would not load but the MK2 version did ... i think this thing is a MK2 (now) as mentioned by another member elsewhere ... due to the bios that is in the machine .

ps ... i just looked at the schematics you sent ...
pretty good when viewed at 600% magnification on my 32" monitor !
(yeah , it was a sharp tv that was bone piled ... i replaced all 10 ccfls in it ... ordered from china for 25 bucks)

edit : after running for about a half hour there are two birds locked .

 

after running the 5005 gps module for several hours there were two birds locked most of the time .
there were several other birds that would pop in/out rapidly .
in reading several of the threads pertinent to this module , it seems that there are some irksome problems with them .
TB made comment (some time back) in a thread that he was having the same basic issues as i am having .

he basically stated that he would have a tough time selling the machine to someone in the state it was .
i too would have a tough time and to go one step further , i would not sell it to someone (if i was selling it) .
i would just as soon yank the module and sell it without it being "gps ready" .

is/has there been any resolution to these issues ?
i am tempted to lean toward a signal strength issue as well as a software issue .
hmmm ... maybe a low noise GaAsFET band passed preamp at the antenna would help .

 

This is the antenna to get. it's what we use on the Ublox units.

AP.10F.07.0039B Taoglas Limited | 931-1148-ND | DigiKey

Datasheets AP.10F.07.0039B Spec
Standard Package ? 120
Category RF/IF and RFID
Family RF Antennas
Series -
Packaging ? Tray ?
Antenna Type Powered, Patch
Number of Bands 1
Frequency 1575.42MHz
VSWR 2
Gain 25dB
Termination IPEX MHF (U.FL)
Mounting Type Surface Mount
Height (Max) 0.236" (6.00mm)
Online Catalog Taoglas Limited - Embedded
Other Names 931-1148
AP10F070039B

 

ok ... that is the one i remember seeing elsewhere .
hmmm ... a 40mm coax ...
i was looking at the ublox site ... they have some very small modules .

 

AP. 10F.07.0039B Indicates 10mm


40mm coax. Yes, you need to splice it or get an extension cable. I used an extension cable.

http://www.jefatech.com/product/UFLUFLEXT12

 

man , i can tell you that splicing that chunk of coax would be a RPITA .
it's not impossible but is about as difficult as putting lipstick on a rattlesnake .

has anyone attempted to gut out the old gps antenna carrier proper and install a module there ?
(i remember mention of the "low profile" look being more hip, slick and cool)
running the data and power lines down into the body would not be hard .

of course , this is/would be basically the same thing as the $100 "kit" that is popular .
i am thinking more along the lines of using a more elaborate module .

with the kit i bought and having the antenna mounted right at the module itself , there sure is not much loss between "the rig and the stick" .
being able to run only data and power makes for a much more efficient layout .

 

Someone recently bought a Ublox and the Taoglas. He mounted the Ublox on the inside of the lid and used aluminum tape to avoid RF interference from the LCD.
No custom corner piece. Nothing on the outside indicates a GPS.
I'll find the link later on.

I trimmed the wifi antenna and put the 10mm Taoglas right beside it. I made my one extension cable for the antenna. I have the Ublox in the stock location.

 

I actually cut open the Taoglass antennas and solder on whole new leads... Teo is the one who said something about that originally. You have to make sure you get the proper cable. If it is too thin your signal is for squat!

Check your connections... A stock CF-30 GPS shouldn't be THAT bad. A CF-29/28??? Yes! But not a CF-30.

Did you take it outside to get a clear view? Sometimes you may need to do that to let it know where you are the first time.

 

i don't know much about letting it know where i am but i sure would like to tell it where to go !
:laugh:

the performance is on the low side ...
as i said , the antenna is oriented and in the same spot that the ublox based system on my '30 was .
there is a major disparity between the two ... way beyond what i would consider "acceptable" for an antenna on the end of a chunk of coax .
it may be possible that the coax is flaky but it looks good and substituting another "original" antenna produces the same results .
perhaps the 5005 module is bad .

taking it outside will have to wait for a bit ...
i do not have a lid display attached , i am using a monitor on it .
the display parts should be here in a day or so .

in the meantime i am loading the basic "must have" programs .

 

Its not the GPS. Its lack of battery back up and eprom. Coz everytime you pull out the main battery without the AC plugin on the wall. It lost all the data and when you start it again. Its back to cold start. If you can find the schematic of the oem module. Try installing or add a back up battery but remember to add a diode on the circuit.

ohlip

 

the parts arrived today ...
i swapped out the defunct lcd for one from a MK2 (or 3 ... can't recall) .
fired it up and had that wonderful cosmic halo effect .
i am going to have to open it up and swap out the touch screen .
thats what i get for being in a hurry .
the good news is that the touch screen portion is ok ... the machine seen it and installed the software .