Restart doesn't work - just shuts down (Vista Home Premium 32-bit)

Has anyone ever had their Vista "reboot" not work and just shut down instead?

It's pretty consistent: not a one-time thing and I'm not just clicking the wrong button.

In full disclosure, I have done some of Les's tweaks here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532
But I didn't venture out on my own and only did the recommended settings exactly as he laid them out. Could any of them have been the culprit? I haven't seen anyone else in that thread having the same problem, and I asked there to no avail.

I'm a pretty novice computer user but it certainly seems like there should be a simple fix to this w/o having to reinstall the entire OS - someone please tell me I'm right? (crosses fingers).

Thanks in advance,

Evan

 

Did you try doing system restore?

 

no.

do I have to?

will it undo the tweaks that Les has done?

I mean... I don't even remember at what point this started happening. (it wasn't like this right out of the box, though)

 

It will undo some settings that you did. Up to what point in Les's tweaks have you followed?

Also Reboot = Restart right?

 

I did up to step 18, with the following exceptions:
step 3 - Shorten Shutdown: I put it back to 20 seconds, but didn't help
step 9 - Readyboost: skipped (4gb ram installed)
step 10 - Write Caching: skipped
step 12 - Vista Visual Effects: Changed power scheme to high performance only (4gb ram, core 2 t9300 processor)
step 13 - Disable Security Popup: skipped, I don't mind this (yet)
step 14 - Disable UAC: skipped, isn't this just disabling the added security/confirmation (that I don't mind)?
step 15 - Disable System Restore: skipped

I did some further searching. Could my problem be similar to this one?:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=172290&highlight=restart

Even though I don't have an Ipod, I do have a logitech audiohub, old PSC1410 printer and G9 mouse (has onboard memory) all plugged in.

Also, perhaps this step did something to BIOS to cause it to check usb devices at startup:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3186872&postcount=1081

I will check if the linked solution helps anything once I get back home - I can muddle my way around a computer with the help of these forums, but for some reason messing with BIOS scares the heck out of me.

Wish me luck!

Evan

P.s. I think it's the same as "reboot" -I'm talking about selecting the "restart" option in Orb then the little expanding arrow next to the shutdown/logoff options.

 

Then good luck. Hope you can already fix your problem

 

I think your system is not rebooting because you are doing a hot reboot corrrect? Are you getting the bloe screen of death before that?

Have you installed the AHCI driver on your system?

 

No Hot Reboot. No BSOD. Computer works fine except when I choose to restart it. (also very slow startup, though)

First noticed when I uninstalled a program and it gave me the option to restart later. When I was ready to restart, I simply went to Orb/then the right arrow next to the shutdown and sleep options and dragged to "restart". It went through the correct shut down process... no hanging, no BSOD, everything worked smoothly. But just when the computer clicked off, it never came back on.

I have tried it about 6 times since then, each time no programs/unnecessary processes were running, not tied to any install/uninstall process, no error messages or BSOD. Same result.

Could this be related to my other issue - that even after following most of your steps (see above for which ones - but I think I got all the essential oner) I'm still at over 1 min cold boot?

I did install ACHI, because during the initial reinstall of Vista, I kept getting hung up on a "Completing Installation" loop. Downloaded ACHI from Intel website, put on usb drive and added driver before installing OS, as per your suggestion: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3186872#post3186872

It worked and allowed to me to re-install Vista.

But could this be affecting my ability to "restart" now?

More importantly - could this be slowing down my startup time?

 

FYI: In case anyone encounters this same problem, the solution I posted from the Dell website worked - I went into BIOS and disabled boot from USB

Now the computer actually restarts when I select "restart".




However, my startup is still very slow:

45 seconds till password and an additional 30 seconds till up and running.

My system is 9300 Intel processor, 4 Gig Ram, 8600m GT video card, 7200 rpm hard drive.

And I have done most of Les's tweaks (see above for exact ones).

I should be way faster than this, no?

 

Yes. Should be under 1 min easy.

 

hmmm....

Could the fact that I had to install an ACHI thingy before Vista cooperated have anything to do with things? That's one of the only things I had to do different than someone following Les's guides for a Dell reinstall and Vista tweaks.

I reall really don't wanna start the whole process over again and reinstall Media Direct & Windows just to shave 15 seconds off a process I do once a month, tops.

But is this my only option at this point?

Can I uninstall that ACHI thingy or is it a good thing?


EDIT:
One thing I did notice, when doing step 7 - "Disable Excess Windows Processes at Boot! (TY and Pls Rep Trebuin)" I saw A LOT more processes than listed on Trebuin's chart: http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10396&d=1189576517

Ones that he had disabled, I disabled; one's that he left, I left... but I have 135 total processes - ones that Trebuil doesn't mention, I simply left as is. Isn't this the list of "stuff" the computer has to do during the startup time? Should I try to cull some of the other ones?