Dodgy Windows XP shutdown

[AngloScot]

When I shut down my computer, I get the screen which says 'It is now safe to turn off your computer' but when I press the power on/off button nothing happens! So I have to press restart, wait for the computer to go 'bleep' then the power off button works. Can somebody please explain to me why this happens and what I can do to fix it? My PC is quite old incase that is relevant.

[Thunderchild]

an old computer is quit the reason. it has a AT power supply unit (PSU) not a ATX. the difference is that the at has an on/off switch button that physically turns it on and off like a torch switch. the ATX PSU is software controlled: the power button on a ATX pc is conected to the motherboard not the psu (that has to be plugged in this does not mean that it is on but it is in standby) so when u press it a signal is sent to the psu to start it up. the same happens when u turn of an ATX the psu is shut down by software and not a physical switch. in your case then the psu has to be physically switched off. not that all systems now in use r ATX.

in case ur interested the atx psu when just plugged in but on standby has just a seperate 5 Volts active to power the startup of the mainboard when u press the start button but the main sections r off waiting for that sofware command.

[ajmmac]

thunderchild is generally correct--but u say that when u get the it is now safe to turn off ur computer message nothing happens when u press the on/off button--i suggest you press it and hold it in for about 5secs and ur machine should switch off--this works even with an ATX power supply