Shutdown yes, reboot no

vitorg · 02-15-2006, 01:09 PM

Greetings,

Im new to Slackware and I just did a fresh install. I chose the kernel bareacpi.i so I could shutdown/reboot automatically without having to push the button. After that I could shutdown, but on reboot the system hangs displaying the message "Restarting System" and I have to push the button so that it reboots.
Besides ACPI I tried using APM but the effect is the same.

I've tried other distros such as Red Hat, Mandrake, Suse, Ubuntu and they dont have this problem.

I have a Pentium IV 2.4Ghz, motherboard Asus P4G8X and im using Slackware 10.2.

Can anyone help me?
Thank you for your time.

ralvez · 02-15-2006, 02:00 PM

I have *never* seen such behavior in Slack before. The fact that ACPI is "aware" of your system capabilities to shut down makes me think that it is possible that something is corrupted in that installation.
Just in case go to /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and make sure the line that reads "/sbin/modprobe apm" is un-commented.

Other that those things I'm afraid I do not know what else could it be.

Rick

Bruce Hill · 02-15-2006, 02:14 PM

I use nothing but Asus mobos and can't get ACPI to work properly in Linux with any of them. I've tried many kernels, presently using some in the 2.6.x.y family. If you're familiar with kernel compiling, I'd try some different ACPI options - perhpas building ACPI in rather than as modules. And what are your BIOS settings for ACPI / APIC?

What is your output for "cat /proc/acpi/" ?

And if you have directories under there, what about "cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/" ?

On my Asus boards I never have anything under that last one, whether I compile ACPI built in or as modules.

Btw: ACPI works fine under Windows with those same boards, so it's not the board -- it's ACPI support in the Linux kernels.

vitorg · 02-15-2006, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Just in case go to /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and make sure the line that reads "/sbin/modprobe apm" is un-commented.

I un-commented that line to try APM, commented again for ACPI.

Quote:

And what are your BIOS settings for ACPI / APIC?

Im sorry, Im a newbie. Where can I get information on such settings?

Quote:

What is your output for "cat /proc/acpi/" ?

Its a directory. It contains:

Code:

$ ls /proc/acpi
ac_adapter/  asus/     button/  embedded_controller/  fadt  info             processor/  thermal_zone/
alarm        battery/  dsdt     event                 fan/  power_resource/  sleep

Quote:

And if you have directories under there, what about "cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/" ?

The directory is empty

Quote:

If you're familiar with kernel compiling, I'd try some different ACPI options - perhpas building ACPI in rather than as modules.

Well if you think that it can solve the problem I can give it a try.

Thanks for your help.

Bruce Hill · 02-15-2006, 03:58 PM

You get more in /proc/acpi than do I.

You get the settings in your BIOS by going into there when you boot the computer. You should press Esc to get into BIOS, I believe. You should see it on your post screen, then read through the menus. You'll learn more about your computer just going through them...

What is the full message when you are rebooting? Please post it like this:

Code:

please stand by while rebooting the system..
flushing devices.. sda sdb sdc sdd
restarting system...

but post your message.

If you've never recompiled a kernel, or need help, I'd suggest Kwan Lowe's Kernel-Build-HOWTO

Have you Googled this error?

vitorg · 02-15-2006, 05:04 PM

I get very few information on BIOS screen regarding ACPI or APIC.
The only options that refer to those topics are "Interrupt Mode" which is set to APIC, and "ACPI Suspend To Ram" which is Disabled.
Anyway I dont think that the problem is in BIOS since ACPI already worked for other linux distros and I didn't change any options in there.

The full message at reboot time is:

Code:

Rebooting.
md: stopping all md devices.
flushing ide devices: hda hdb hdc hdd
Restarting System.

And hangs there.

I'll follow that HOWTO and I'll tell you my results.
I'll try with the latest: 2.6.15.4
By the way, I was using 2.4.31

I google the problem extensively, but I had no success.

Thanks.

Bruce Hill · 02-15-2006, 05:50 PM

Sorry I can't help more. Aren't md devices related to RAID arrays?

Perhaps it is related to ACPI in your present kernel. I'd also try a kernel without ACPI, as it seems to be useless on any of my desktop boards anyway. Does work somewhat on my laptop. Interesting thing is on there ACPI keeps my computer from rebooting, but there are no messages. It just shuts down rather than rebooting. I flashed it's BIOS. Before that, issuing any of the commands to reboot would hang that box.

Woodsman · 02-15-2006, 09:14 PM

Quote:

I chose the kernel bareacpi.i so I could shutdown/reboot automatically without having to push the button.

AFAIK, that kernel image supports the APM module. However, you do need to manually enable the APM module probing in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules, as mentioned above.

Quote:

I have a Pentium IV 2.4Ghz, motherboard Asus P4G8X

Your box easily is new enough to support APM/ACPI.

Quote:

I've tried other distros such as Red Hat, Mandrake, Suse, Ubuntu and they don't have this problem.

This is your primary troubleshooting clue. Don't get distracted with abstract ideas. The problem is more than likely specific to your Slackware installation. For example, you don't need to recompile the kernel. "Recompile the kernel" seems to be a popular non sequitur response for many people, much like in Windows people are told to reformat and reinstall.

Quote:

I'm sorry, I'm a newbie. Where can I get information on such settings?

When you first power up the computer, and for most boxes, when the Power On Self Test (POST) begins with checking the RAM, press the Del key as instructed at the bottom of the screen. This keyboard action will take you into the BIOS settings.

Quote:

Anyway I don't think that the problem is in BIOS since ACPI already worked for other linux distros and I didn't change any options in there.

I agree.

Quote:

md: stopping all md devices.

This message has to do with Multiple Devices and RAID. With respect to troubleshooting this APM/ACPI issue, you can ignore this message.

After you have uncommented the /sbin/modprobe apm line in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules, reboot the box. Then, from a command line type ps ax | grep apm. You then should see something like this:

30 ? S 0:00 [kapmd]
300 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/apmd

Additionally, from the command line type cat /var/log/dmesg | grep apm. You should see something like this:

apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16)

Additionally, from the command line type cat /var/log/messages | grep apm. You should see something like this:

Feb 15 20:58:21 tweetybird kernel: apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16)
Feb 15 20:58:24 tweetybird apmd[300]: Version 3.0.2 (APM BIOS 1.2, Linux driver 1.16)
Feb 15 20:58:24 tweetybird apmd[300]: Charge: * * * (-1% unknown)

Try exiting X, then with root privileges, from the command line type /sbin/reboot. See if your box reboots.

I hope this helps.

vitorg · 02-16-2006, 11:25 AM

Thanks Woodsman for your post but I tried APM with no success.

I followed Chinaman advice and recompiled a new 2.6.15.4 kernel. I selected every option regarding ACPI and APM built-in. With the new kernel I used ACPI and it worked fine! I guess I had some problem in the 2.4.31 kernel.

Thanks everyone!

Bruce Hill · 02-16-2006, 03:48 PM

Glad you got it working. Since ACPI doesn't display temps for
any of my Asus boards, what does "cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/"
output for you on that kernel? Is it still empty, or do you have
directories under it, and get temps? Thanks for your reply.

Woodsman · 02-16-2006, 04:45 PM

Quote:

I guess I had some problem in the 2.4.31 kernel.

Curiouser and curiouser. I use 2.4.31 and have no problems using APM. I'm using an ASUS mobo that is much older than yours and possibly there is something different in the newer BIOS settings.

Bruce Hill · 02-16-2006, 04:54 PM

Woodsman,

You can normally reboot a Linux box without APM or ACPI, it doesn't matter. His issue was that it would halt, but not reboot. The old APM on shutdown issue is that the box would shutdown, but not power off, and that is why we uncommented "/sbin/modprobe apm" in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules; not because a box refused to reboot.

So in the end we didn't fix the issue with his kernel and ACPI and mobo, but he can reboot his box.

ACPI in the Linux kernels still doesn't work properly on every motherboard.

vitorg · 02-17-2006, 08:02 AM

Quote:

what does "cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/"
output for you on that kernel? Is it still empty, or do you have
directories under it, and get temps?

It's still empty.

cwwilson721 · 02-17-2006, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodsman

For example, you don't need to recompile the kernel. "Recompile the kernel" seems to be a popular non sequitur response for many people, much like in Windows people are told to reformat and reinstall.

I totally disagree with this, Woodsman. Alot of ACPI and other hardware related problems REQUIRE a recompile of the kernel, because the vanilla version installed with Slackware CANNOT take into account all the different combinations of cards/BIOS/monitors etc.

A recompile is not a big deal. The first thing I do after a fresh install is to recompile the kernel to get a 'base' kernel setup, and then, after that, is minor 'tweaks' to get everything I need into it (or as modules). I just use the current config file, change what I want, make, make modules_install, add the vmlinuz/.config/System.map to /boot (all with different endings, i.e '-a' or '-b'), change lilo.conf, run lilo, and reboot. If it works, great!. If not, I boot to the 'old' kernel, and do it again. With the minor changes, the recompile takes just a short time.

Sometimes, you just have to recompile the kernel. Which is what fixed the OP's problem.

So a blanket statement like

Quote:

you don't need to recompile the kernel

is not only wrong, but also misleading

onebuck · 02-17-2006, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwwilson721

I totally disagree with this, Woodsman. Alot of ACPI and other hardware related problems REQUIRE a recompile of the kernel, because the vanilla version installed with Slackware CANNOT take into account all the different combinations of cards/BIOS/monitors etc.

A recompile is not a big deal. The first thing I do after a fresh install is to recompile the kernel to get a 'base' kernel setup, and then, after that, is minor 'tweaks' to get everything I need into it (or as modules). I just use the current config file, change what I want, make, make modules_install, add the vmlinuz/.config/System.map to /boot (all with different endings, i.e '-a' or '-b'), change lilo.conf, run lilo, and reboot. If it works, great!. If not, I boot to the 'old' kernel, and do it again. With the minor changes, the recompile takes just a short time.

Sometimes, you just have to recompile the kernel. Which is what fixed the OP's problem.

So a blanket statement like is not only wrong, but also misleading

Hi,

I might have mis-understood woodsman but I think his meaning was that everyone seems to say to solve or attempt to resolve something by saying "compile the kernel".

I think that statement is used broadly to attempt to get the problem solved by said action. When in fact it can create other issues that might get the user into deeper problems.

I would suggest that more users should learn to understand their systems therefore allowing them to really find the the problem/issue at hand. Sure a noob can't always know his system thoroughly but they should know how to get into the BIOS. Know what setting are within the BIOS. Then getting into the OS is another matter.

Most people(broad brush stroke here) tend to not break the problem down to the simplest form. Some don't even attempt to line out the problem so as to understand what is actually happening. Sure that could be their lack of familiarity with how to do that descriptively or lack of communication skills.

Diagnosis is an art and a science. Just as a doctor who must use every tool at hand to find out what is truly ailing a patient.
We too must do the same thing.

I come from academia and always amazed by people who couldn't take simple tasks list or a lab experiment and break it down to simple forms without instruction. Sure they are spoon fed most of their young life and that creates parts of this issue.

I don't argue that a fresh compile will create a problem for a knowledgable user. But it can be an issue for someone who doesn't know what setting should be for his/her system. Your methods seem to work for you. But for me it would create issues.
I don't like to shot gun a system, be it hardware or software.
I need to know what is going on! I would use my system information and sys-gen needs to state what would be required to solve the situation.

As for your statement about blanket statements, you did the same! In this case it solved a portion of the problem.

Just my .02 plus!