CAUSE
1.The behavior can occur if the following conditions exist:
You have "automatically restart" selected. or
2.The Roxio Easy CD Creator or Direct CD program is installed on your computer.


MORE INFORMATION
Windows XP may encounter a problem during startup that results in a STOP error message. Depending on the system configuration, the error message on a blue screen may not be displayed long enough to record the error information. To gather important information about the STOP error message and to verify the cause:

Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties .


On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery .


Click to clear the Automatically restart check box under System failure , and then click OK . The error message on a blue screen should remain on the screen so you can record the error information.


regards,
solutions

TheQwerty,

Thank you for using the DellTalk forum.

Unexpected Shutdowns and Reboots with WindowsXP.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.
Microsoft Windows XP Professional.
Microsoft Windows XP Upgrade.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOMS:
Windows XP will intermittently shutdown or restart.

CAUSE:
This behavior is associated with different software applications
and hardware devices that are installed on the system.

RESOLUTION:
The following information and troubleshooting steps can be used to resolve this problem.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.Disable (Restart on system failure) feature in WindowsXP.
This will allow you to get a clear understanding of what is causing
the problem, instead of just having the system automatically reboot.
This may also provide you with an error message, for troubleshooting.
Right-click on My Computer, click Properties, click the Advanced tab. Under “Startup & Recovery,” click Settings. Under “System Failure,” uncheck the box in front of “System reboot.”

2.Roxio/Adeptec Easy CD / Direct CD software:
Can cause some of the shutdown and reboot problems with WindowsXP.
You should update and install any patches that Roxio has released for your
Adaptec/Roxio software. Be sure to read the directions! “Roxio Easy CD Creator Platinum 5.0 has exact steps you must take, to get it working under Win XP.
There is the risk of your computer not booting if you blindly go ahead and install it without first consulting the Roxio Web site. Roxio’s “Take Two” backup program (normally part of Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum) is uninstalled when the Roxio patch is applied. You can download the latest patches, from the following web page:
http://www.roxio.com/en/support/ecdc/

3. Roxio software file (UDFRINST):
The reboot-on-shutdown problem may be solved by deleting the UDFRINST file. This file is part of the Roxio CD-RW software for systems not using Direct CD.
Make sure to make a backup of the file, before trying to delete it.

4.(APM) Advanced Power Management or
(ACPI) Advanced Configuration and Power Management.
Your power management settings may contribute to the system reboot and shutdown problem. To resolve the problem, try disabling your power management
features all together. If the problem persists, then set the power management features to the original configuration. You can disable your power management
features in Windows by clicking on: Start | Setting | Control Panel | Power | Power Schemes. It is also possible to disable some power management features in your
system bios. Check the system documentation to learn how to do so.

5. Enhanced Keyboard Software.
Keyboards that use "Enhanced" software for "quick" or "hot" keys, may
contribute to the shutdown and reboot problem. Make sure you have the
latest keyboard drivers and software that were released specifically for Windows XP. If you do not have Windows XP specific software, you should contact the product vendor or manufacturer.

6.Logitech MouseWare 8.6.
Windows reboots when shutdown is attempted. The software caused a BSOD with KBDCLASS.SYS. Removing the software solved the BSOD the problem.

7.SHUTDOWN HANGS ON “SAVING YOUR SETTINGS”
During shutdown or reboot, Win XP may hang (stop responding) at the “saving your settings” screen. During such a hang, there is no response to Ctrl+Alt+Del; the mouse may or may not work. The problem may be intermittent.

This is a known bug in Windows XP, for which Microsoft has a supported fix. Because this patch is scheduled for further quality assurance testing in the future, Microsoft only recommends that you install it if you have a serious problem; otherwise, they recommend waiting for Service Pack 1, which will include the more permanent version of the fix. To learn how to get this patch, see the following web page: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307274
Windows XP Stops Responding (Hangs) During Windows Shutdown (Q307274)

NOTE: The article says the patch may only be obtained by contacting Microsoft. However, it is now available on the Windows Update site under “Recommended Updates” for Win XP Professional, titled “Restarting Windows XP.”

8."ShutMeDown” REGISTRY PATCH"
This patch may fix the reboot and shutdown problems you are having
with Windows XP. The patch can be downloaded from the following web page:
http://www.aumha.org/a/shtdwnxp.htm

*Note*
This patch makes changes to the Windows registry.
You should make a backup of your Windows registry before using the patch.
This is not the appropriate fix for most machines, but does help some users. After installing, test Windows shutdown. If the fix does not work for you, remove it by restoring the Registry to its prior state. You use this patch at your own risk,
and you take full responsibility for any (Data loss or damage) by using this patch.
The fix provided by this patch is based on a Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q155117 for Windows NT 4.0. It still works in Windows XP (which, after all, is Win NT 5.1).

9.SBLive: DEVLDR32.EXE PROBLEMS.
The Sound Blaster Live drivers you may have installed, may account for the
reboot and shutdown problems you are having. You should download the
latest Sound Blaster Live drivers from the Creative Labs web page, or the
computer manufacturers drivers web page.

10.“STOP” ERROR MESSAGES AT SHUTDOWN

Some users, when attempting either to shutdown or restart Win XP, get an error message similar to the following: STOP 0x0000009F: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

See Knowledge Base Links: STOP MESSAGES for much more information.
http://www.aumha.org/kbestop.htm
Most Stop Messages indicate hardware issues; some are caused by troublesome software or a system service problem. The links page just mentioned provides a 10-step approach to troubleshooting STOP Messages in general, then itemized analysis on the most common of these. (STOP messages are identified by an 8-digit hexadecimal number, but also commonly written in a shorthand notation; e.g., a STOP 0x0000000A may also be written Stop 0xA.)

Here are a few that may affect Win XP shutdown and restart. Stop 0x9F and Stop 0x8E are two of the most common of these at shutdown, and generally point to a bad driver. Stop 0x7B on restarting means Win XP lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process, due to a bad device driver, boot sector virus, resource conflict, boot volume corruption, or other problem listed here. Stop 0xC000021A can appear on restart after a system administrator has modified permissions so that the SYSTEM account no longer has adequate permissions to access system files and folders.

You can try the following approach to solve the error messages.
Restart the computer. Press F8 during the restart and select “Last Known Good Configuration.” If you catch the problem when it first occurs (meaning you likely have installed only one or two drivers or new service), this will return you to a previous working condition. System Restore provides an alternate approach, especially if you need to go back further than the last known good configuration, and Device Manager provides a tool for rolling back to an earlier driver.

11.SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW.

Some users report a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Generally, this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted; it also may have something to do with particular hardware. If you experience this problem, be sure to close all running programs before attempting shutdown and see if this solves your problem. If so, then you can determine, by trial and error, which program's) are involved.

You can also try the following.
In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services, stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box.)

Win XP Professional:
The Group Policy Editor has a security option to clear the page file at system shutdown. The same setting also forces the hibernation file to be wiped at shutdown. These processes take long enough that users may think that shutdown has hung. Since you actually have to have set this policy, the problem will be pretty rare, but is worth mentioning. To change the setting, click Start | Run, type GPEDIT.MSC, click OK. Go down to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options. In the right pane, find Shutdown: Clear virtual memory page file.

12.Use the MSCONFIG troubleshooting utility.

Left-click on START | RUN.
Type in "msconfig" in the "Open" dialog box and left-click on "OK."
When the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, the "General" tab will be visible. Left-click on "Selective Startup."
Remove the check marks from each choice except "System.ini," by left clicking on the check marks.
Click the Startup tab.
Uncheck every entry except (SystemTray).
Left-click on "Apply" and then left-click on "OK."
A message will appear stating that "For the changes to take place, the system must be restarted." Left-click on the "OK" button, and the system will begin the restart.

If the problem stops, then try using the steps below, to isolate the program that
is causing the problem.
Repeat steps listed above, but instead of un-checking the entries, re-check one entry at a time until you have identified the category that is the cause of the problem. After you have isolated the application, utility, or device driver that is causing the problem, you will be able to proceed with further troubleshooting. One of the easiest methods to attempt a resolution is to reinstall the problematic application or device driver. The entry causing the problem can be left disabled if it does not affect system operation.

13.OTHER KNOWN ISSUES & HINTS...

BIOS UPGRADE.
Make sure you have downloaded the latest WindowsXP bios upgrade
for your system. And, reset the bios settings after upgrading the bios file.

UNSIGNED DEVICE DRIVERS. Some users have found that Windows XP won’t shutdown properly if unsigned device drivers are used. This is simply a variation of the broader device driver issue: Hardware manufactures have not yet released all necessary device drivers for Win XP. This will continue to be a problem for the next few months; it already has been reduced to a very minor cause of Win XP shutdown problems. The only way to solve this problem, is to get the latest
drivers and updates for your system to properly run Windows XP.

PACE INTERLOK ANTI-PIRACY SOFTWARE. According to the MS Knowledge Base article Computer Hangs During Shutdown Because of Resource Conflict, PACE InterLok anti-piracy software installs a driver (TPKD.SYS) that uses the same IRQ as the Standard Floppy Disk Controller device. This can cause Win XP to hang at a blank screen (with mouse and keyboard nonresponsive) when you try to shutdown or restart. Additional symptoms may be that the floppy drive doesn't’t show in My Computer; the Standard Floppy Disk Controller device in Device Manager may display the error status “This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)”; and/or when trying to shutdown from Safe Mode you get the error message, STOP 0x0000009F Driver_Power_State_Failure. The solution is to get the updated TPKD.SYS file from PACE.

USING SHUTDOWN SCRIPTS & 802.1x AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL. This combination can cause Win XP to take in excess of 10 minutes to shutdown normally. (IEEE 802.1x is an authentication standard for both wireless networks and wired Ethernet networks.) The 802.1x authentication protocol stops after the user logs off. Shutdown scripts run after the user logs off. If the script is on a network share and the connection is no longer available (since authentication has terminated), the script can’t run. The default time-out for shutdown scripts is 10 minutes. So the computer sits there 10 minutes before continuing with its shutdown. (Reference: MSKB article Q311787.)

*Some of the information above has been taken from different internet sources.
That information belongs to the respective author or writter.
The information above is meant to provide solutions to WindowsXP problems.
You use the information at your own risk, and take responsibility for any
(Data Loss or Damage) that may occur because of it.