I got a brand new HP dv6 laptop for xmas with windows 7.Not all the time but windows 7 hangs up on "shutting Down" screen.All the other post i have looked at are people who upgraded to windows 7.This laptop came with it installed.

If this is brand new, your first place to call would be HP and let them work you through the problem as its under warranty. Windows 7 has been know to take a very long time to shut down (part of the price for a quick boot up) ;) When it hangs up as you call it, what do you do then? Stop everything running in your system tray, like antivirus or anything else that appear there. Also unplug any peripherals like gaming controllers, webcam or USB sticks. If Windows shuts down normally you know its one of these programs or devices that is causing the problem. Another thing to do is to start in Safe mode and see how shutdown behaves from there. Again, if its quick then the cause is definitely a device or program.MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

Add to cdobbs's suggestions, you can also apply this Hotfix to see if the issue can be resolved: You cannot make a computer that is running Windows 7 shut down or sleep. If the issue persists, please unplug all unnecessary devices and disable all startup items and third party services when booting. This method will help us determine if this issue is caused by a loading program or service. Please perform the following steps: 1. Click the Start Button type "msconfig" (without quotation marks) in the Start Search box, and then press Enter. Note: If prompted, please click Continue on the User Account Control (UAC) window. 2. Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click "Disable All" (if it is not gray). 3. Click the "Startup" tab, click "Disable All" and click "OK". Then, restart the computer. When the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the "Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts" box and click OK. Please test this issue in the Clean Boot environment, if the issue disappears in the Clean Boot environment, we can use a 50/50 approach to quickly narrow down which entry is causing the issue. Hope this helps. Regards, Linda

Thank you Linda Yan. In my case it involved an upgrade from Vista to 7 Home Premium on my PC. I have a quad core Q9450 and if I understand correctly, the hotfix is the correction needed to eliminate the problem on shut down as identified in this blog. It worked for me, frustration ended. Thanks. JerryE