Unknown Shutdown My computer froze up on me, and I rebooted. After the reboot, it still remained sluggish. It then shut down completely and will not power up. When I open the case, and look at the motherboard, the fans for the cpu and the case start up briefly ( about 3-5 seconds) then shut off. What could it be? I think it's the motherboad, but how can I tell without swapping it out with a known good one?

Hi,
Dell not given facility to reboot. But command through you can reboot . To access the command prompt window from Vista or Windows 7:

1. Go to the Start menu
2. Type cmd in the Search field
3. Press Enter

On a Windows XP computer:

1. Click the Start menu
2. Choose Run
3. Type cmd
4. Press Enter

From an open command prompt window, you can type shutdown, and then the option you wish to execute.
To shut down your computer type: shutdown /s
To restart your computer type: shutdown /r
To log off your computer type: shutdown /l
0r
press down window key with and two time press "U" key.

See if this helps...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/247392/my_computer_reboots_when_i_tell_it_to_shut_down.html
or this...
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/60526fa7-2864-40fb-abd6-8e314ebcb73e/windows-7-reboots-when-i-try-to-shutdown?forum=w7itprogeneral

Reboot essentially means restarting the computer. This is two types
1. Warm Reboot: where you go to start on windows task bar and choose shut down but when prompted choose restart. This way computer shuts down momentarily and restarts!
2. Cold Reboot: By this means you choose to shut down and again when prompted choose shut down! This makes computer off completely until restart by pressing power button.
Booting is computer Lingo for above procedures!

Try this To end processes automatically at shutdown -

1. Open Regedit and navigate to HK_Users\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop

2. Double-click on AutoEndTasks

3. Change the value from 0 to 1

4. Reboot your machine

Now hung processes will end automatically when you try to shutdown or reboot your machine.


Regards
Vikas Agrawal
MCA

Rebooting is a function of the operating system and Ctrl Alt Del, works the same on all hardware platforms or you can choose the shutdown / reboot option from the start menu.

If the operating system has hung completely most machines will switch off if you just hold the power button down for 5 seconds or so. This should only be used as a last resort when nothing else will shut the computer is down. This is equivalent to pulling the plug out of the wall for a desk top computer.

Beyond that you can disconnect the power and pull the battery out but it should never come to that.

I hope this answer matches your question.

Hi dear,
Create Icons for Shutdown and Reboot If you find it annoying to access the Start Menu for shutting down or rebooting the computer, create a shutdown and reboot icon for the desktop.
Desktop Shutdown Icon Right click on the desktop
Click [New] [Shortcut] to open the Create Shortcut Wizard
Type [shutdown -s -t 00] without the brackets.
Click [Next] and type a descriptive name of your choosing for the shortcut
Click [Finish]
Add a bit of class to the shortcut by assigning it a custom icon. Right click the shortcut, click [Properties] and select the [Shortcut] tab. Click [Change Icon] and select from the icons that are displayed.
Desktop Reboot Icon Right click on the desktop
Click [New] [Shortcut] to open the Create Shortcut Wizard
Type [shutdown -r -t 00] without the brackets.
Click [Next] and type a descriptive name of your choosing for the shortcut
Click [Finish]
Add a bit of class to the shortcut by assigning it a custom icon. Right click the shortcut, click [Properties] and select the [Shortcut] tab. Click [Change Icon] and select from the icons that are displayed.
A Final Note: If you happen to be as fanatical as I am about having nothing on the desktop, drag the new icons into the Quick Launch area of the Taskbar.


then use it.

if not resolve it

then use following step ;-


click on start then go to RUN and type SFC /SCANNOW
press enter
this command recover all windows lost files, if it will ask windows CD then enter the windows disk.

bye take care
good luck
veeru

usually holding down the power button for a long time will force a reboot. I am not sure if that is what your asking

The most common shut down problem is that the system will reboot rather than shutting down. In most cases, the reboot is triggered because Windows XP is designed to reboot after a critical failure. To stop windows from rebooting in case of a failure, you need to take the following steps:
Right click on My Computer, Select Properties, Click on advance tab, Click on Settings under Startup and Recovery, Uncheck the option Automatically Restart under System failure, Click Ok twice and try to shutdown the pc. If it shows any error code then let me know

Hi PC;
try booting up in safe mode then shutdown from there, see if you still hang on the blank blue screen.

to go to safe mode, tap F8 when your pc is booting up.

get back to me for feedback. :)