Unwanted shutdown

Slycordinator · 01-02-2004, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by b0uncer
ok you folks seem to know something about this shutdown-thing....I wonder if there's any help for me?

I'm using an old machine, 566 Celefon, but it has worked fine until this. I used to have redhats installed, and with them there was no problem - for example, redhat9 used to automatically power off when I shut my machine down (I didn't need to touch the power button myself).

Now when I have gentoo, things go like this: reboot works fine. Halt or shutdown, no matter which I use, run a good shutdown: end the processes, log users out etc. (the normal stuff), but when it comes down to the line where reads "Power down" (or was it "off" ?), nothing happens. I think this should also turn the power off itself, but I need to push the button for about 6 seconds to get it completely shut down - so it's like the machine wouldn't run the WHOLE shutdown right?

How could I change this so that the power would go off itself? Please help if you can...

I bet either 1 of these 2 things happend:
1. Your bootloader didn't include support for APCI( Advanced Power Control Interface, I believe).
2. Your kernel wasn't compiled with support for APCI either.

Though I think APCI support in the kernel is pretty much only needed for laptops. It's most likely item 1. This happened to me when I was using Mandrake.

Another way you could fix the problem is to change your BIOS so it doesn't include support for APM (Advanced Power Management). Then when your computer fails to shut down at the "Power Down" moment, hold the power button on your computer down for about 5 seconds and it will shut down. Reason you'd have to disable APM in the BIOS is because if you do the other part (powering down with the button) your computer will "miraculously" restart after you shut it down before. This confused the hell out of me the first time it happend. Shut off computer, took shower, came back seeing my computer up and running...

whansard · 01-02-2004, 09:54 AM

he said redhat was shutting the machine off fine,then he installed gentoo,
and now it doesn't, so his settings in the bios should be fine.

run
modprobe apm
if you get no error message, try shutting down the machine, and see if it
turns off. if it works, add that line to your script like earlier in this thread.

the machine actually is shutting down fine, just not powering off.
and there is usually a setting in the bios for <instand-off> when pushing
power button.

Slycordinator · 01-02-2004, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by whansard
he said redhat was shutting the machine off fine,then he installed gentoo,
and now it doesn't, so his settings in the bios should be fine.

run
modprobe apm
if you get no error message, try shutting down the machine, and see if it
turns off. if it works, add that line to your script like earlier in this thread.

the machine actually is shutting down fine, just not powering off.
and there is usually a setting in the bios for <instand-off> when pushing
power button.

I didn't say anything was wrong with the bios. Doing what I said to the bios would eleviate the problem, though. I know this from experience because I had the same thing happen.

What I was saying to do is disable APM-support in the bios. Then when it gets to the "power off" moment in the shutdown process, simply hold down the power button until the computer powers off.

But the better solution is to build support for APCI into your boot loader and (if needed) your kernel.