i just installed slackware linux 9.1 on my comp and i'm having a few problems, some of them might seem pretty basic, but im kind of a n00b so, here they are:

i can't shutdown-- i got it so that i can sudo and do shutdown, thats not the problem. the problem is: after it executes shutdown, it just sits there... i have to physically press the power button to turn it off. is that harming my computer or is it supposed to be like that? it used to power off by itself when i did a soft shutdown with windows xp and also when i used livelinux cd's like phlak or knoppix STD. so, how can i fix this problem? if it is, in fact a problem

i cant get any sound. i've run alsaconfig and it sees my video board(its an onboard VIA something or other board) and says its ready to play sounds, so i go to alsamixer, and unmute and turn up every setting i can. then i try to play an mp3 with xmms and it shows the little "bar thingies" bouncing in the corner(they're supposed to represent the music visually or something, you know what i mean?) , but i dont hear anything. i can get sound easily with live linux cd's like phlak and knoppix.

alot of things that i want to install or compile say "requires <this version> of <this library>" how do i find out if i have a particular library and what version it is?

i cant make my mouse work with the "rolly thing" i added an option to my xconfig file about it and it doesnt work. i want to be able to roll it to scroll up and down pages and press it to get the little circle with the triangles so i can scroll with that. how do you do that?

can i upgrade to slackware 10 without burning more cds and formatting the hd? i installed slackware 9.1 on my only box with a cd burner and i dont know if i can make cd burning work very easily, plus i'm running low on blank cd's.

For a soft shutdown: go to /etc/rc.d/modules and turn on the apmd module. All you have to do is uncomment it (use an editor such as pico or vi) to uncomment just delete the # preceding the module and save. To see what versions of libraries etc. you have, go to /var/log/packages they are all listed there. As far as upgrading, you can do it with swaret, or one of the other Slackware package managers. I strongly recommend a dsl or cable connection. Doing this on dialup would take a very long time.
As far as sound, sorry I can't help, don't know enough about alsa etc. to be helpful.

For the upgrade swaret will be very useful. Install it and if you have problems using it ask here . For the sound, can you post your exact steps for configure the snd card? It will help to figure out what can be wrong.

its an onboard soundcard, a VIA something brand. i ran alsaconf, it saw the card, i selected the card, it configured it and said it was good to go, then i tried to play an mp3 with xmms and i couldnt hear anything. it appeard to be playing the song, the bar was moving and the time was going and there was that little bar-graph music visualization thing in the corner. i ran alsamixer and turned the sound for everything to unmute/100%(i dont know which particualr volume would matter so i just got em all), tried it again and still no sound. my actual output device is a pair of headphones, if that makes a difference... they have been working well with other computers that i have.

Maybe XMMS is not configured properly. Right click on XMMS, select Options -> Preferences and from Audio I/O Plugins try changing the output audio plugin to some other, it may help.

ill do that, but i havent been getting sound on web pages that use flash, etc. or hearing sound in general... does kde have sounds for things like emptying the recyclebin and stuff