Unable to shut down WinXP installation after Bare Metal Restore

Hi all,

There are two Dell Vostro 420 Desktops running Windows XP SP3 that have been installed via a VMWare image using Acronis v9. They are unable to shut down/restart on their own. Upon shutting down, Windows will go through the normal shutdown process and finish up with the blank/blue background screen after the 'System is shutting down' dialog box disappears. It will hang here indefinitely.

Both machines have been imaged with the same VMWare image.

I've tried the following:

AutoKill Processes http://forums.techarena.in/operating-systems/1136433.htm
- Added Registry Entry as per the article which did not help

ACPI PC http://www.theeldergeek.com/shutdown_issues_in_xp.htm
- Ensured it was configured and setup in BIOS.

FAT16 Partition write error http://support.microsoft.com/kb/284969
- Removed any extra partitions (Dell Recovery partition)

Update BIOS from Version 1.0.3 to 1.2.4 http://www.theeldergeek.com/shutdown_issues_in_xp.htm
- Did not fix the issue.

Safe Mode Shutdown
- Was able to test shutting down from the Safe Mode which had the same results

Alternate OS Shutdown
- Was able to shut down the system using MiniXP OS from CD

It seems as if the Windows XP installations do not have the ability to talk to the hardware to request a shutdown or reboot. I cannot re-image either machine. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jeremy