For some reason I can not get xp to restart on its own. I have to hold in the power button until the cpu powers completely down then push the power button back on for it to start. any suggestions or reasos as to why this is now happening? No new software hasbeen added. I have an HP a646C pavilion.

Are you saying you cannot use the Shut Down functions via the Start Menu?

Do they appear? If so then nothing happens? Is it just Restart or Shutdown as well?

Is this a new problem?

I can use the shutdown from the start menu and it works just fine, but I can not restart from the start menu it will close out everything and get to the point of all is shutdown except for the cpu power, this is where it locks up and I have to hold the power button until it completely shuts down the hit the button and it will start just fine. Yes new problem.

Try a System Restore to a point prior to the problem.

start > All programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore

Kathaven,

I don't know if you are still watching this thread, but this is a known problem with the Pavilion a646c. It has to do with the sound hardware hanging up on the shutdown sound. It will happen with other operating systems too, not just WinXP. I run Linux on my a646c and have experienced the same issue.

Disabling the shutdown sound solves the problem. In XP, go to Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds tab. From the Program Events list, select the Exit Windows event. The Sounds dropdown below it will display the currently active sound for Exit Windows, which is likely to be "Windows XP Shutdown.wav". Change it to None, click Apply, and close the window.

Best of luck.

I am having exactly the problem described by Kathaven, and used dwasifar's advice hoping to fix the problem, but it did not.
XP Home with SP3.
Can anyone help further please?

Did you try a System Restore to a date before this started happening as suggested by Jephree in post #4?

I did try System restore, which did not work. The problem has been going on for over a month now.

If system restore did not work then try to repair you OS.

Install the User Profile Hive Cleanup tool from Microsoft, see if that helps.