Video driver problems and reboot command hangs -current on older system
 

I have an old Celeron machine that has run slackware 13, 13.1, and now I did a clean install to -current from the dvd produced with Eric's mirror_slackware_current.sh. The system runs fine. I used the same disk to install a much newer i7 920 system and there's nothing strange there. The Celeron machine is going to be headless and configuration will be done via SSH and XDMCP.

The major issue I have is that the reboot command hangs the system. It just stops during the shutdown process and won't go any further, this is obviously a bad situation for a headless machine. I'm not sure what the issue is, the same disk used to install a much newer machine works just fine.

The second issue has to do with an Nvidia 6200 video card. If I use the nouveau driver then everything works as expected, except I'm using the nouveau driver which really doesn't impress me and I tend to always be suspicious of it. If I use the blacklist package and install the binary nvidia driver the system boots normally, but when it's time to load the driver the screen simply blacks out. It doesn't come back although I can ssh into the machine just fine. I've tried both the current drivers 2xx.xx.x 3xx.xx.x as well as the legacy 173.xx.x driver that claims to support the card. Lilo complains when I run lilo and I've tried switching to vga=normal in
I think I vaguely remember something about both of these issues, but lilo.

The best option at the point is to use the Nouveau driver. If it works without problems, you should probably use it. It's a safe driver, don't worry.

What exact error did LILO print out?

Does shutdown also hang the system ? Do you use the e1000e driver ?

I also recommend nouveau, it is mostly stable now. If this machine is headless, why not just use vesa ? Are you gonna be running 3D games on it ?

Shutdown doesn't do anything except pop up the options, none of which as best I can tell do anything either. Reboot works if I use the -f switch. So it appears that the issue is with /sbin/shutdown?

I just did away with the nvidia card and after another update to current reboot seems to work fine too.