reboot -n yields a failed reboot. The system halts, screen goes blank, LED on tower changes from green to orange, and doesn't reboot. If I hit the reboot button manually, there's no video signal because the LED on the monitor goes from green to orange after 15 seconds, hence no display (no POST or BIOS beeps). In order to get a display I have to remove the CMOS battery and place it back in (discharging the CMOS doesn't work), and reconfigure processor settings before booting back into it. No errors in the logs. Is it just that Slack doesn't like my motherboard (ABIT AT7) or did I screw something up on installation maybe? I wonder if I should wait until the next version of Slack is released before I give it another go.

WHat happens if you just issue the reboot command without the -n option ( which is the option for - Don't sync before reboot or halt)?

bash says missing arugment where it then displays several switches to combine with it. same result with shutdown.

Are you trying this as root/superuser?

In your /etc/rc.d/rc.6 script, it is the shutdown script, try remarking out the lines about 15 or 20 down from the top that pertain to /sbin/hwclock. This program attempts to write the current date/time to the hardware clock. Well, in your case, maybe it is corrupting the clock and BIOS config data. That is why you need to remove the CMOS battery. The hardware clock and CMOS config are the same chip.

Yes, I'm root.

Hmm...interesting. I am assuming shutdown -h now works?

I think Excalibur may be onto something also.

Is your kernel configured for ACPI or APM?

I'm not sure about the ACPI or APM. I've only been using linux for a few months. I installed the usb.i (keyboard and mouse are usb). I don't know if that kernel has APM or ACPI.

shutdown -h now works sometimes as far as getting a display.