[techtalk] shutdown problems

[jenn at simegen.com]

Amy wrote:

> I am not at home at the moment, so I can't look in the system log, but
> I noticed if I log out in Gnome and select shutdown, it shuts down
> properly. If I try and just type shutdown now while not running Gnome,
> it stops at a bash prompt. When I type 'exit' at the bash prompt, it
> reboots Linux. If I startx into Gnome and THEN log off and hit reboot,
> it then shuts down to where it runs LILO and I can boot into Windows.
> I *use* Linux pretty efficiently for my job, but I haven't had this box
> at home very long, and I haven't had a lot of time to mess around with
> the real meat of the OS, so I am a newbie at figuring out problems.

It sounds like it's shutting down into single-user mode. 

I'm pretty sure that's a flag in the shutdown command - and that man
shutdown probably will tell you where you set default flags. Somehow
it's gotten the idea that you want the shutdown default to be 'single
user mode', rather than 'halt'.

Quickfix: use 'shutdown -h now' and 'shutdown -r now' instead of just 
'shutdown'. (Check that redhat uses the same meanings of '-h' and 'r'
that I'm used to. Halt and reboot.)

Realfix: use info and man and figure out where shutdown defaults are
set (somewhere in /etc? /etc/shutdown, perhaps?) and read the file 
there (using info and man again). Comment out the 'wrong' line (DON'T
remove it or edit it!) and insert the line you want.


DISCLAIMER: I've got NIL experience with redhat. I've got no experience
of changing 'shutdown'. This is just what *I* would do.
If anyone has a better idea, please say so.


Jenn V.
-- 
       "Do you ever wonder if there's a whole section of geek culture 
		you miss out on by being a geek?" - Dancer.

jenn at simegen.com        Jenn Vesperman       
http://www.simegen.com/~jenn/