Is Windows 95 freezing in the shutdown process?

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Question: Here’s a hard question for you. I have a Pentium 120 with 48 megs of RAM and sometimes when I shut down it freezes at the screen where it says, “Please wait while your computer shuts down.” I’ve reinstalled Windows 95 and it’s still doing it. Please help me. –Eagle 1

Answer: This is another demon often related to video drivers. “If Windows 95 cannot properly shut down a device, it often just stops at that point,” said Jeremy Schmuland of CompuSmart.

A quick way to tell whether the display driver is the culprit is to switch the display to the VGA driver. Here’s how:

  1. Under Start > Settings > Control Panel, double-click the Display icon and select the Settings tab.
  2. Click Change display type, then click the Change button next to Adapter Type.
  3. Be sure to select Show all compatible devices and scroll to the top of the Manufacturers list. If you select Standard display types, a standard VGA driver will appear in the box on the right side. Select it, click OK, and restart your machine.

If the problem goes away, you’ll need to find an updated or better-suited driver from your video card vendor.

If that doesn’t fix it, check your hard-drive controller card drivers. They can also cause bad shutdowns.