Greetings,

I know this is a very tough nut with many possibilities.  XP shuts down fine but instead of powering off it just freezes at the "saving your settings" screen once the harddrive light stops flashing.  Just coincidentally, this started not too long after I took Speedstartup of my system.  

It powers off fine in Safe Mode.  I've tried lots of suggestions about unloading drivers to see if I can come across the conflict, but no luck so far.  I didn't unload what appear to be system drivers, not wanting to really screw things up.

Any ideas out there for being more methodical about this?

Thanks!

Sam

If it powers of in safe mode the delay/freezing is likely due to a particular installed program. Use Selective startup in  msconfig (System Configuration Utility) to identify the offending item. If you are not familiar with the use of Msconfig, post and I will walk you through the process.

Just to be sure I am outlining the required steps below. This is an excellent way for troubleshooting your PC for many different problems.

Click the run option in the start menu.
Type "msconfig" (not the quotes) and hit enter.
In the window that opens up click on "Selective Startup".
Uncheck all boxes except "Load System Services".
Click on the services tab.
Check the box that says "Hide All Microsoft Services".
Now click the "Disable All" button.
You have now effectively disabled all but the most necessary systems.
Click OK at the bottom of the original window. You will now be prompted to reboot. Reboot into normal mode (not safe mode).

Check if the computer shuts down properly (it should).
Reboot and open the msconfig System Configuration window.
Go to the services tab and start the first half of the services that you had disabled earlier.
Reboot.

Check if the computer shuts down properly.
If it doesn't and the error shows up then it is one of the services that you enabled that is causing the conflict.
Repeat the process but this time uncheck half the services you had checked earlier and repeat the process of elimination till you identify the conflicting service.
If it does shutdown properly, repeat the above steps except check off the balance of the services that were disabled in the first step.
Reboot
Check if the computer shuts down properly. If it doesn't then it is one of the second batch of services. Follow the same process as outlined above till you have identified the conflicting service.

If those services are not crossing the problem then check them all and go to the startup tab and follow the same process for startup items to identify the offending startup item.

I hope this helps. If there is something that is not clear in the above,  post and I will try to clarify.

Thanks, Snakeyes.  I used MSConfig as you directed.  Turned off all services except Microsoft services.  Laptop wouldn't poweroff.  Did poweroff in safemode still.  Does that imply that its a corrupted XP file?

It could be. At the command prompt type " sfc /scannow ". Have your WinXP install cd handy as the system might  request it. This will check and repair all system files.
Best of Luck

You could play with disabling Microsoft services on msconfig, just as you did with non-microsoft services.

After much work, I have solved the problem.  I disabled the USB Legacy Support function in the ROM Setup program.  My hypothesis is that a driver update of USB Host Controllers changed the behavior of this function.

Thanks for your responses!