My Dell laptop fails to shut down. It restarts automatically when I try to shut it down.

Why Windows Restarts at Shutdown

According to Microsoft, the two main reasons a computer restarts at shutdown are because "automatically restart" is selected or Roxio Easy CD creator (or Direct CD 5) is installed on your computer and is interfering with shutdown.

Solving the Computer Restart Problem by Updating Roxio

First, let's rule out or confirm the presence of Roxio Easy CD Creator or Roxio Direct CD 5. If your computer has either program on it, you'll need to update the driver by visiting Roxio.com and downloading the most current driver for your program and system. After updating the device driver, restart your computer to finalize the update and then test the computer to see of the problem is solved by shutting it down.

Solving the Computer Restart Problem by Disabling Automatically Restart

By default, some Windows operating systems enable "automatically restart" so that when the computer encounters a stop error or system failure, it reboots itself. However, this can interfere with shut down operations. To turn off this option, go to the Control Panel and choose the category labeled "Performance and Maintenance." Find the System icon, go to Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings. Now find the section labeled System Failure and de-select Automatically Restart. Click OK when prompted and then shut down your computer.

Resolving Underlying Stop Errors

If this solves the restart problem, but your computer continues to freeze up as you shut it down, there could be underlying issues that should be addressed. A little computer maintenance may be in order. Hopefully, either the new Roxio drivers or disabling automatically restart will solve the problem once and for all.

Celeste Stewart | April 5th, 2012
Tags: computer restart, computer shutdown error, restart on shutdown
Categories: Anti-Virus

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