Laptop won't log off.
 

Having problems with my daughter's new laptop, (Dell Inspiron, Windows Vista, bought for Xmas). It wouldn't log off or shut down, just kept displaying "Logging off" for hour after hour. Eventually I forced it to shut down by holding down the "power on" button. However when I now re-boot it, I get a "resuming windows" message and then it returns to "Logging off", can't get any further. Would ring Dell but they don't "do" Sundays apparently. Daughter now nagging me, any ideas anyone!:confused:

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

Try booting into safe mode. Press the F8 key during the startup process.

When you shut down make sure you are holding the start / power on button for at least 10 seconds to force the complete off, rather than any standby mode.

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

Ok, have managed to start it in safe mode, what now? Should I try to restart it and see if it will now start in normal mode?

---------- Post added at 17:28 ---------- Previous post was at 17:15 ----------

OK, tried a straight reboot from safe mode, and all appears to be back to normal. I know that all faults are probably logged, where can I go to see what may have caused the problem?

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

event viewer
start -> settings -> Control panel -> Administrative tools - Event viewer
(or start run eventvwr)
that's XP
Vista it looks different, but in a similar place!

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

I have a Dell Inspiron and I had a similar problem..Norton had picked up I had trojan virus which needed to be manually removed. Norton told me which file was infected but i could not remove it, kept saying file needs permission to be deleted. I had to start mylaptop in safe mode, which let me delete the file and then delete the virus..so if you have a virus checker do a quick scan!

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

The problem is most likely to do with Hibernate.

Doesn't Vista by default go to hibernate when pressing the power button?

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

When you pressed the power button you didnt hold it for long enough to power itself off, it just went into hibernate instead ;)

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

That would certainly explain that problem, is it possible to de-activate the hibernate mode so the laptop will always shut down properly?

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

Re: Laptop won't log off.
 

Top stuff, thanks.:)