sudo halt stops aborts the operating system but the system fan keeps running

pittendrigh · 06-30-2014, 10:43 AM

I just built a linux backup server. Works fine. I gave this box a reserved IP address of 192.168.1.200 so all other boxes on my basement network can talk to it.

However, when I do a "sudo halt" at the bash command line the box never completely shuts down. The screen goes black and almost blank but hangs there with a "system halted" message on a black background terminal like display. And the fan continues to run. More or less for ever. And the "system halted" message never goes away.

What would be the cause? How do I get this machine to really shut down when I want it to--without manually pulling the power cord?

uname -a displays:
Linux mybackupserver 3.13.0-24-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Thu Apr 10 19:08:14 UTC 2014 i686 athlon i686 GNU/Linux

PS: I just did a sudo apt-get upgrade and then rebooted.

Now a "sudo halt" seems to stop the operating system, sort of. But gets hung displaying a white and green curly-cue Mint Linux logo.

The boot screen announces "Mint 16 Quiana" ....or something like that.

coralfang · 06-30-2014, 10:59 AM

This is what you want:

Code:

sudo halt -p

or

Code:

sudo poweroff

(they are the same thing)

from the halt manpage:

Quote:

-p When halting the system, switch off the power. This is the
default when halt is called as poweroff.

pittendrigh · 06-30-2014, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coralfang

This is what you want:

Code:

sudo halt -p

Cool. Thank you. That works. Interesting however. No other linux box I've ever run required the -p parameter. In fact the one I'm using right now shuts down with halt only. Good to know.