nvidia-based Mac Mini (Macmini3,1) won't reboot (but will halt)

[David D Miller]

When I tell Ubuntu to restart the system, it goes through the entire shutdown sequence, then hangs on a blank screen at the point when it would normally reboot the computer. This is a brand new (March 2009) Mac Mini, Intel-based with an Nvidia video card, system ID "Macmini3,1". Telling it to shut down is successful, it does power itself off when the shutdown completes.

I found existing (resolved) bugs on this issue for other machines that suggested adding "reboot=b" to the kernel params as a workaround for this, but that was not successful either.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic 2.6.27-11.27
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=3e35499b-bb34-4e3e-a43a-c5b12cc2a5c8 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.27-11.27-generic
SourcePackage: linux

[David D Miller (justdave)]

So in an unrelated incident, I upgraded the RAM in the Mini to 4GB, and could only see 2.6 GB of it. Having seen this problem on RHEL servers before, I knew the answer was "install a PAE-enabled kernel". Couldn't find anything branded that in Ubuntu's repos, but I saw the "linux-server" package, which I suspected probably would have it, so I installed that, and it did.

Where that little story ties back to this bug is the linux-server version of the kernel *can* reboot the machine. So it's doing something different about reboot than the -generic kernel.

[David D Miller (justdave)]

I've upgraded this machine to the desktop version of Jaunty because of bug 343989 and there is no change, it still doesn't reboot (but can successfully halt).

[David D Miller (justdave)]

Architecture: amd64
Dependencies:

DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux None [modified: /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux.list]
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-10-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[ooze (zoe-gauthier)]

Confirming since we have two independent reports of the same problem.

[DesktopMan (christian-auby)]

Same issue, Ubuntu 9.04 i386, 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux. Since the mac 2009 hardware is virtually identical for all configurations except for ram and harddrive it likely happens all configurations.

[knattlhuber (stefankuhle)]

I can confirm this problem on both a single- and dual-boot (+OSX w/ rEFIt) 64-bit Jaunty install on a new 24" iMac (Type 9,1). When rebooting from the command line (shutdown -r now >> shutdown.log 2>&1), no error messages are logged. dmesg and syslog don't show any problems either.

[MarianoAbsatz (el-baby)]

I have the exact same problem.

Macmini3,1, tried with rEFIt 0.13, no OS-X and the following versions of ubuntu:

8.04.2 32 and 64 bits
9.04 32 and 64 bits

In every case, I can shutdown properly, but can't reboot (it *always* hangs).

[pbeeson (pbeeson)]

I can also confirm this. This is a huge pain in the ass, as we use Mac mini for the internals of a larger system, and do not wish to take everything apart just to reboot.

[dominix (dominix-launchpad)]

I have the exact same reboot problem. -> macmini intel/nvidia +4go RAM (correctly reconized)

[Richard Flude (richard-flude)]

Further research uncovered a similar MacBook5.1 failure (using nvidia chipset).

https://bugs.launchpad.net/mactel-support/+bug/338083

Try adding "reboot=pci" to the kernel command line. It works for me using linux-2.6.32-rc1 (my own) kernel.

Please report success/failure.

[David D Miller (justdave)]

Does *not* work for me on 2.6.28-15-generic. I suspect that option was added/fixed upstream in a newer kernel.

[tji (ignasiak)]

Just confirming the same behavior.. Mac Mini (nvidia chipset) running 9.04. When I reboot it appears to work, closes down everything, kills ssh sessions, etc. But, hangs at a black screen never actually rebooting.

[Victor Costan (costan)]

It still doesn't work on Ubuntu 9.10 beta, tried x86 and x86_64.

[knattlhuber (stefankuhle)]

The problem fixed itself over here but as this was on my co-worker's machine that I had set up for him I don't know what exactly happened. He told me he just installed the Jaunty updates. His current kernel is 2.6.28-15-generic.

[Luke Yelavich (themuso)]

Git changeset http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git?p=ubuntu/ubuntu-lucid.git;a=commit;h=05154752cf3767c544b65b5e340793d40b3f1229 in lucid fixes this bug.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.