Comment 93 for bug 43961

From reading through all the numerous comments and complaints on this topic, and the proposed fixes that DO NOT WORK, I can see that the "SHUT DOWN DOES NOT POWER OFF" bug is still ALIVE AND WELL and remains as yet unsquashed. I had just installed Ubuntu on my old Dell OptiPlex GX1 (600-MHz Pentium III, 768MB RAM) about a month ago, and it's been running very well, thank you. On the suggestion of Tip #10 in the online article "Ten Tips for New Ubuntu Users" posted at URL http://tips.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/06/08/1651225&tid=50, I decided to go for a new kernel--specifically, the 686 kernel over the default 386 kernel that was put in place by the installation CD. I had never had any problem with Ubuntu powering off my machine until installing this "upgrade," after which it freezes up every time after the "Will now halt" message at the end of the shutdown sequence. Once my annoyance reached an intolerable level with this MANIFEST BUG, I reverted back to the 386 kernel, WHICH IS ABLE TO POWER DOWN MY HARDWARE WITHOUT ANY PROBLEM. You can't tell me there's not an outstanding issue with the 686 kernel!

I can only hope that the helpful developers of the Ubuntu package will take these complaints to heart and GET WITH IT. There's no reason to have to put up with this small but exasperating software fault for long. FREE OR NOT, software that proves NONFUNCTIONAL in such an obvious area will not make friends around the world!

Meanwhile, I've been learning how to use the Synaptic Package Manager to good purpose, as well as the nano text editor as needed for low-level changes to config files, so it's not a total wash. We can all learn from OTHERS' mistakes.