I have a new HP desktop and ran into some problems installing a new modem. Since that time the computer won't shut down. It says "shutting down" but then it just sits there forever NOT shutting down until I finally do a power off. Any ideas?

Providing nothing else changed (Windows update perhaps?) the culprit is the modem driver. Remove the modem and uninstall the driver if still showing. If the problem is cleared it is another example of the Vista - driver problem. Locate the modem mfg website and find a Vista driver for it - if no good, take it back to the retailer and ask for a Vista compatible modem.

this probably sounds unrelated but i had this problem after installing zonealarm - do you have that installed?

Well the problems were actually installing the wireless router but with the same idea. The router wouldn't accept a new IP config. and kept reverting to an old and non-working one. After lots of hassle I got the modem to "talk" through the router and now it is finally working. This desktop is the only one actually wired through the modem and then we have 3 other computers accessing through the wireless. I will try temporarily disabling the modem to see if I can get it to shut down. There was a Windows update recently however. What were you thinking when you asked about that?

This problem has changed its spots....do you now have the following:
adsl modem
|
|
router ==== 'problem' PC
|
|
3 wireless pcs

HP Pavillion computer=Vista
Scientific /Comcast modem
Netgear wireless router

All worked using the old modem- then comcast issued me a new modem (listed above). Suddenly, we couldn't get it to automatically update the IP config for the wireless router until we performed some sort of exorcism. After about 3 days of trial and error stuff we finally got it all running. Then we let the other three computers access the wireless. Except now the HP won't shut down. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for your persistance trouble-shooting with me.