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Ralpho · Jan 30, 2012, 07:01 PM

I have a 2.66 Ghz iMac with 640 Gb hard drive running OS 10.6.8. It's almost three years old. Lately it doesn't want to shut down. It gets to the blue screen with the spinning wheel and hangs up there. I have to shut it down by cycling the on/off switch on the power strip.

Anyone out there care to offer advice?

Waragainstsleep · 10:07 AM

You might examine the system log using the Console app in Utilities, see if that tells you where its getting stuck.

Ralpho · Jan 30, 2012, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

You migth examine the system log using the Console app in Utilities, see if that tells you where its getting stuck.

Thanks for the tip. Here's what the system log says for Sunday's failed shutdown procedure:

1/29/12 8:12:52 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[90] (com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent[115]) Exited: Killed
1/29/12 8:12:52 PM [0x0-0xf00f].com.hp.HPEventHandler[126] on write, error=-1
1/29/12 8:12:52 PM [0x0-0xf00f].com.hp.HPEventHandler[126] on write, error=-1
1/29/12 8:12:53 PM com.hp.devicemonitor[118] on write, error=-1
1/29/12 8:12:53 PM textexpanderd[128] bye

I have no idea what that means. Anyone else?

Ω · Jan 31, 2012, 01:34 AM

Do you have something by HP connected?

Ralpho · Jan 31, 2012, 06:16 AM

Originally Posted by Ω

Do you have something by HP connected?

Yes. An HP Deskjet 1000 printer. But it's always shut off when I turn off computer.

Big Mac · Jan 31, 2012, 07:26 AM

It's an HP driver issue, it seems. Not too surprising. . .

P · Jan 31, 2012, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by Ralpho

Yes. An HP Deskjet 1000 printer. But it's always shut off when I turn off computer.

Googling a bit shows that this is a known issue with HP's drivers. I would suggest (in order, stop if one fixes the issue):

1) Look for a driver update from HP
2) Try uninstalling and reinstalling the current driver
3) Try leaving the printer on when shutting down
4) Consider removing any special HP drivers and just relying on the built-in stuff.

Ralpho · Feb 1, 2012, 05:24 AM

Originally Posted by P

Googling a bit shows that this is a known issue with HP's drivers. I would suggest (in order, stop if one fixes the issue):

1) Look for a driver update from HP
2) Try uninstalling and reinstalling the current driver
3) Try leaving the printer on when shutting down
4) Consider removing any special HP drivers and just relying on the built-in stuff.

Thanks for your help. I re-installed the printer driver, and the computer shut down properly.

Ralpho · Feb 12, 2012, 12:37 PM

Okay, this is frustrating. I've now uninstalled both printer drivers, and the computer has started having the same original problem again. It won't shut down. Any other ideas?

reader50 · Feb 12, 2012, 01:36 PM

Check the console log again. There may be a different cause this time.

SierraDragon · Feb 12, 2012, 02:43 PM

The one thing I strongly recommend before continuing to work the problem is to manually (not Time Machine) back up all the data on the internal drive to an external drive and then keep that backup drive disconnected from the problematic Mac.

Just curious, how full is that 640 GB internal HDD?

-Allen

Ralpho · Feb 26, 2012, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by SierraDragon

The one thing I strongly recommend before continuing to work the problem is to manually (not Time Machine) back up all the data on the internal drive to an external drive and then keep that backup drive disconnected from the problematic Mac.

Just curious, how full is that 640 GB internal HDD?

-Allen

I uninstalled both printer drivers, repaired permissions, and computer shut down properly for a week or so. Yesterday it happened again. Without printer drivers. Whatever the cause is, repairing permissions seems to clear it up, but not for good.

Someone asked how full my hard drive is. I'm ashamed to say I don't know how to see that. Anyone feel like helping me out in that regard?

reader50 · Feb 26, 2012, 02:43 PM

Click on the hard drive icon, and hit command-i for info. The general data will include Capacity and Used numbers.

Ralpho · Feb 27, 2012, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by reader50

Click on the hard drive icon, and hit command-i for info. The general data will include Capacity and Used numbers.

Thanks for the information. I have a 640 gigabyte hard drive with 399 gigabytes available.

Ralpho · Mar 1, 2012, 09:04 AM

Here's what my system log says about last night's failed attempted shutdown:

2/29/12 8:03:02 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[88] (com.apple.unmountassistant.useragent[601]) Exited: Killed
2/29/12 8:03:02 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[88] (com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent[113]) Exited: Killed
2/29/12 8:03:02 PM textexpanderd[120] bye

Can anyone make sense of that?