"computer did not shut down properly"

I had decided not to do the low power state because of that.  I am now using a screensaver sequence so I don't ever shut down.  Before that I would just let the computer go to the screensaver, and it wouldn't reboot .  I had to power it off. 

However, I obviously have to shut down during a storm (lots of those with summer coming) and at night (computer is in the bedroom). 

Periodically when I go through the normal shutdown process and open again in the morning (or after a storm), the computer tells me I have not shut down properly and I have to go through the long process of rebooting sometimes with a long disk check sequence or an error message saying one of the drives needs verified. 

Do I need to contact Dell for warranty assistance.  I don't mind occasionally going through the process but I'm afraid to install anything new on the computer because of an impending crash.  I am using an external hard drive. 

thanks for getting back to me.

jebginger

If "low power state" causes the problem, turn that feature off and don't use it.  It has always been problematic.  (And 530 BIOS has been problematic too.)

If that doesn't work, call back for more warranty assistance.

I have had screensavers interact with certain running applications in such a way as to lockup the whole system, so I don't use those anymore.  Screens no longer need to be 'saved', so it serves no purpose.  You can set the monitor to turn off, that almost always works without trouble.  Shorter if you have LCD, longer if you have CRT (as CRTs thermal cycle when turned on and off).

If you completely shut down and get that message on restart, something is wrong, but it may not be hardware and you may have to restore to a time before it started, or 'system restore' to factory original.

That is what Dell is going to tell you before they replace any more hardware.  But since you are in warranty it is probably a good idea to call them and get the problem on record in case restoring doesn't fix it.

If they try 3 times to fix it (once already, right?) and it still doesn't work right, they are supposed to offer you a replacement system as long as warranty remains.

okay, I see what you are saying; I'll skip the screen savers, and just turn off the monitor portion. 

yes, they fixed it once--replaced my hard drives for me; when this happened the installer wouldn't work and even restore quit working.  prior to that the dvd had to be replaced and the computer was sent with the wrong graphics card-- have only had the system since July.  This computer has actually been quite expensive for them.

I will try the restore, did once last week but will go back to a more distant restore point to see if this works.

I will go on record with Dell with the problem also; this is a good point.  thank you.

jebginger

x-lab rat,

I followed your directions about turning off the monitor and am pleased that over the last few days, I have not experienced the problem.  The only troubling aspect remaining is a verify message for the drive (instead of normal) which occurs about 25% of the time.  It doesn't seem to effect anything and the computer is running really well.

I am keeping my fingers crossed, and am amazed that this was such a simple fix; hope it lasts. 

thanks so much,

jebginger

It's hard to imagine what causes the verify, if you are clicking 'shut down' and it turns itself off.  Windows gives the shutdown signal to the MB when it is finished with its housekeeping.  That's the "shut down properly" that it's looking for.

This could be a Vista bug, but if it were we should be hearing more about it.  It could even be a feature--a verify cycle entered under 'scheduled tasks'.  Not having Vista to look at, real hard to say.

Maybe you should post that on Vista OS under the 'software' heading at the left.

Maybe there is somekind of test that happens periodically.  I think I will check for a pattern--like every 4th time or something.  I will post this on the vista forum.

Before my os and drives crashed I used to see a verification icon on the lower right bar.  It would appear periodically.  Now I just see it in the beginning as it first starts. 

Thanks again,

jebginger

yes I'm on raid  (0)

this would make sense because before I had raid (1) and the verify appeared on the tool bar; now it appears in the beginning.

(when my system was repaired dell tech support was not able to help reinstalling raid (1) so I now have raid (0).

jebginger

RAID 0 serves next to no purpose.  If either drive fails, both (the entire image) fail(s).  Unless you are running very storage-intensive applications, and even then not unless the controller has two independent channels.  Otherwise, it's just a way for OEM vendors to sell you more stuff at your expense, with the impression that it actually does something.  If the drives share a channel, as they can in low-end RAID implementations, absolutely nothing is gained and reliability is halved. 

RAID 1 is supposed to be marginally fault tolerant.  One drive can fail and the image can be rebuilt from the other drive.  But the overhead is 50%.  That is, if you buy 160G of drive space, you only have 80G usable storage space.

Neither RAID implemented at the consumer level is practical.  For fault tolerance, external file backup is 100% more cost effective.  Read performance doesn't go up with shared-channel RAID; write performance goes down.

It sounds like you could solve this whole problem, and sacrifice nothing, by reinstalling OS with RAID turned off, then use the other drive for internal backup.  There is software that automates the backups, so you don't have to do it manually. 

I thought the original config made sense when I bought it and it seemed to solve some of the storage problems. Even consumer report said it was a good option LOL--should have known better.   then I lost both drives: there was nothing gained because the OS and 2 drives bit the dust.  So so much for that solution  Then I couldn't repartition it to 2--at least the tech support guy couldn't help me with it so I have 1 very large drive which as you point out doesn't make alot of sense. 

I recognized when the os and drives were failing that I needed an external drive and purchased one.  It is a great relief.  I have not been successful with cd and dvd storage particularly with photos and I have had some significant losses.  The new external drives is very easy to use as you suggest. 

I have alot of photo storage with large storage requirements so this is one issue and I do run several programs requiring space. 

I will consider the other option of reinstalling the os and turning off raid.  I just want to get on with using the computer for what I bought it for rather than this constant hassle.  thanks again for your suggestions.  I am learning more about the workings of this computer than I ever wanted to know. 

jebginger 

As above, RAID 0 halves reliability, and only increases read performance under specific circumstances.

RAID 1 halves storage space, and as has already been demonstrated, can't be counted upon to save you from having to backup or reinstall.  Although, Dell tech support replaced both drives to keep from having to determine which one was bad (unless they both were), and RAID could hypothetically have regenerated the good image onto a single replacement drive.

Yeah, you're being conspired against by hardware marketers, and it's hard to sort that out without either a lot of research before the purchase, or a lot of experience after.