Kubuntu won't shutdown

[tiagobt]

I'm having trouble shutting down my system inside KDE (K Menu >> Close Session >> Turn Off). When I do that, I get the blue Kubuntu logo with a black background (which is normal for the shutdown sequence), but this logo keeps flashing over and over and the system never shuts down.

On the other hand, if I go to K Menu >> Close Session >> Log Out, and then shut down using KDM, everything works fine.

I'll list some fact that might be relevant to the problem:

• My video card in an ATI Radeon X550 and I use the fglrx driver (version 8.34.8 ).
• I use Compiz Fusion inside an Xgl session.
• I replaced the regular Xorg session by an Xgl session by editing the file /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc. I had to replace the ServerCmd line by:
  ServerCmd=/usr/bin/Xgl -fullscreen -br -accel xvbuffer -accel glxbuffer
• Before doing that, I used to have a separate Xgl session inside KDM, which worked, but failed to display the shutdown options under K Menu >> Close Session.
• I start Compiz Fusion (and Emerald) by placing the following command inside ~/.kde/Autostart:
  compiz --replace -c emerald

Is there anything I can do to solve this problem?

Thanks a lot,
Tiago

[DMurray]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

Does it work with Xorg?

[tiagobt]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

Does it work with Xorg?

Yes, it does. Actually, I hadn't tried that for a while, since I replaced the regular Xorg session by an Xgl session. I had to restore the configuration files in order to test the procedure with Xorg. It turns out that changing the ServerCmd line in /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc makes all the difference.

If the line is the following (Xorg), it works:
ServerCmd=/usr/bin/X -br

However, if the line is the following (Xgl), it doesn't work:
ServerCmd=/usr/bin/Xgl -fullscreen -br -accel xvbuffer -accel glxbuffer

So I guess the problem is related to the Xgl session.

Tiago

[tiagobt]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

I was reading the file /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc and I noticed there's a shutdown session:

[Shutdown]
# The command (subject to word splitting) to run to halt the system.
# Default is "/sbin/poweroff"
# The command (subject to word splitting) to run to reboot the system.
# Default is "/sbin/reboot"
# Whether it is allowed to shut down the system via the global command FiFo.
# Default is false
#AllowFifo=true
# Whether it is allowed to abort active sessions when shutting down the
# system via the global command FiFo.
# Default is true
#AllowFifoNow=false
# The boot manager KDM should use for offering boot options in the
# shutdown dialog.
# "None" - no boot manager
# "Grub" - Grub boot manager
# "Lilo" - Lilo boot manager (Linux on i386 & x86-64 only)
# Default is None
#BootManager=Grub

It looks like the default command to shutdown is /sbin/poweroff. I tried to open a terminal window inside Xgl and type sudo /sbin/poweroff. Surprisingly, everything worked out! So I wonder why it doesn't work when I go to K Menu >> Close Session >> Turn Off. Could it be that the command is not being run as root?

Thanks again,
Tiago

[DMurray]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

Brazuca?

[tiagobt]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

Brazuca?

Yep! Looks like I'm not the only one, DMurray!

Anyway, do any of you guys happen to know what command is triggered when I click on K Menu >> Close Session >> Turn Off? If I find that out, I might be able to run the command in a Konsole window and hopefully get an informative error message.

Thanks once again,
Tiago

[DMurray]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

Cara, a única coisa "externa" que eu sei que precisa pro menu K é o pacote de suspend. Se você não o instalar, essa opção não estará habilitada no menu.
As placas ATI não funcionam com o AIGLX do Xorg novo? Assim não precisaria do XGL. Aqui eu uso nVidia, então não sei sobre as ATI. Já testou?

[tiagobt]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

DMurray,

I'll answer your question in English because I'm not sure we're allowed to write in Portuguese here. I hope you don't mind.

My graphic card also works with AIGLX, but the official ATI driver (fglrx) is not compatible with AIGLX. The only way I can get AIGLX to work is by using the open-source driver r300. However, this driver doesn't give me a very good performance and some graphic applications don't even work with it.

I followed your suggestion and installed the packages suspend and hibernate. But I don't think they're necessary for regular shutdown.

Tiago

[DMurray]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

Tiago, try creating a new user, then start a Compiz session and shut the computer down, just to make sure your main user isn't bogus.

[gnowak]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

Hmm, the shutdown problem from KDE is an old problem, which has caused me a lot of pain. I don't have the problem on my current machines. Which version of KDE and Kubuntu are you running?

Some programs may be blocking your shutdown. Try to shut down as many programs before you try to shutdown from KDE. I have found that Skype blocks the shutdown / reboot sometimes.

Another hint, is to use generic drivers for your gfx card.

People writing here in non English should be punished!

[DMurray]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

Then come punish me. Oh, no, better, go learn something else than your poor English. Is that all you speak?

[tiagobt]

Re: Kubuntu won't shutdown

DMurray and gnowak,

I'm using Kubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04, with all latest upgrades and KDE 3.5.6.

I created a new user, logged in as such, and tried to shutdown the computer from inside KDE. The problem prevailed. In this case, I was using Xgl (because that's my default session), but wasn't using Compiz Fusion (because the new user was not configured to launch it automatically).

I also tried closing all applications I could find before shutting down, including KMix, SuperKaramba, KNetworkManager and Adept Notifier. However, the result was the same.

To make things worse, it seems I'm unable to shutdown the computer using KDM as well. Since I'm using Xgl as the default graphic server (meaning KDM also runs under Xgl), and since I have no problem if Xorg is being used instead, I really think the issue is Xgl-related. It's worth-noticing that the command sudo /sbin/poweroff works every time, flawlessly. Therefore, it should be easier to narrow the problem down if I found out what commands are triggered by KDE and KDM's shutdown sequences.

The reason why I'm not using a "generic" open-source driver for 3D rendering is the fact that the r300 driver gives me poor performance and incompatibility with certain programs. I've already used it before (r300 + AIGLX + KDE + Beryl), but I found it too limiting.

Thanks for the help,
Tiago