hi

i installed debian etch on an old msi motherboard (dont know the exact model right now) with a p3

it does not power down when i run /sbin/poweroff, just prints "System halted."

no extra kernel options did NOT work
acpi=force did NOT work
acpi=off apm=power_off did NOT work
acpi=off apm=on did NOT work
and adding stuff like pci=usepirqmask or noapic to the above didnt change anything either.

it DID work on Suse 10.1 out of the box!
and funnily, if i type "halt" into grub's shell, it powers down, too

btw, etch has 2.6.18, suse101 had a 2.6.16 kernel

has anyone had the same experience / knows a fix?

What about "acpi=ht" or "apm=on apm=power-off" ?
Or you may want to try and add module "apm" to your /etc/modprobe.preload file; but before doing that, do the test: start the PC, su to root, execute "modprobe apm", then halt the PC, it should power off.

Yves.

thanks for your reply.

i already tried modprobing apm before poweroff, it didnt work.
i'll try your options when i have time.

btw. is it power-off or power_off?

Have you tried issuing the command halt instead of poweroff?