This usually indicates a driver and/or device is not responding to the shutdown/restart request.
 
Did this just start happening within a short time or has it always beend doing this ?!?
 
It could be a device that has been recently added and/or it's device drivers.
 
Perhaps review the current driver revs and see how they compare to the manufacturers versions. Try up[censored] any older drivers etc...
 
Another thing to do periodically with Win 9x is to run a thorough scandisk on the entire hard drive for any errors that could also cause this kind of thing.

Its been doing it for a long time now. I updated the nvidia driver and the sounblaster driver and that didn' t help. I use a dual boot with win98se and win 2000. So I dont know if that would have something to do with it. I dont know what to look for when it comes to your 4 in 1 drivers and your motherboard bios updates.

As was stated, shutdown cannot close some stubborn driver. Go here to read that this is a common problem with 98se: http://support.microsoft.com/default.asp...;NoWebContent=1
Then go here to download the Supplement: http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/contents/WURecommended/S_WUFeatured/Win98SE/Default.asp

unlikely i know, but running Winamp on my PC will do the same oP
Try looking through your media players and up[censored] them all-
as said in previous posts its probably a driver, most likely sound.

Thank you for all your help. I am going to look threw these now and find a solution. I do appreciate everyones time. Thanks again, slay.