hi, when i shut don my pc it goes to the xp screen says saving settings then says its shutting down but it doessent turn off and i have to turn it off by hand, any idears what could cause this, cheers

Hi wtdafk!
My welcome to PC Helpforum!

Well, what is the screen that you see last before you turn off the PC?
Is it black or blue background?

Bluefish

its a blue screen, i find it mostley happends when my computer has been left on for a day or two, it seems to work if i try again. i was thinking it was getting to hot but my fan seems to be working ok and is not dusty, a freind told be to change the fan settings in the bios and it might help what do u think? cheers

Have you tried to wait?
How long have you been waiting for the computer to turn off at the longest?

There could be alot of thing that would cause a prob like this im afraid.

Have a look trough these shutdown troubleshooters:

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308029/en-us

http://www.theeldergeek.com/shutdown_issues_in_xp.htm

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_restart.htm

ive waited five mins or so before should i wait longer? cheers again joe il check them out

Once in a blue moon mine will do the same thing...try waiting a while longer and if that doesnt work try restoring to a say save point and then try to shut down. Hope this helps