Xubuntu 13.04 and 13.10 can not make Reboot and Shutdown

[prookie]

Hello everyone,

Recently I've installed Xubuntu 13.04 on my HP nx7300 laptop. I'm experiencing some difficulties when I want to make "Reboot" or "Shut Down" from XCFE.

When I click on mentioned system actions in upper panel, the reboot or shut down sequence is started, but after a few seconds my laptop is stuck. I only see Xubuntu wallpaper with that moving part of circe which indicates some activity. In that state my laptop is stuck for a long time. Only way to reboot or shut down is manually on power button.

Please, do someone have a workaround for this. I had installed Xubuntu 12.04 and there were no problems like that. I had to install 13.04 because of kernel's compatibility for DVB USB dongle.

Is there any system logs to check to trace where the problem can be?

Thank you in advance.

pRookie

[prookie]

Hello,

It passed half a year and I still have the same problem with hanging shutdown on Xubuntu 13.10. I've get used to turn off my laptop on power button and from time to time I've searched forum post for solution.

I found out that there is no shutdown logs in Linux. The following statement on askUbuntu post is the cold truth: "It's not physically possible for linux to record a log after the "Unmounting local filesystems" message."
On the other hand, it is possible to see what is behind the curtain during shutdown by just pressing Esc key during the Xubuntu image before power off (which for some reason does not happen to me). Please check what I see behind the curtain:

The system is going down for power off NOW!
speech-dispatcher disabled: edit /etc/default/speech-dispatcher
* Asking all remaining processes to terminate ... [ OK ]
modem-manager[635]: <info> Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (connected -> disconnecting)

modem-manager[635]: <info> Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (disconnecting -> registered)

modem-manager[635]: <info> (ttyUSB0) closing serial port...

modem-manager[635]: <info> (ttyUSB0) serial port closed

* Killing all remaining processes... [fail]
* Deactivating swap... [ OK ]
mount: / is busy
* Will now halt

After a while, with few strokes on keyboard, I get addition line saying:

[ 5606.912462] option1 ttyUSB0: option_instant_callback: error -108

Please notice that this log above was cought by my camera and rewriten by hand. All this happening in the century of Copy-Paste, for Christ sake!

Does anyone recognize the potential solution for this? How to continue my investigation?

Thank you in advance.

Take care,
pRookie

[mörgæs]

Does anything happen if you press enter while the system is hanging?

[prookie]

Does anything happen if you press enter while the system is hanging?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even pressing combination of Ctrl & Alt & Del keys is worthless.
Laptop only reacts on holding Power button for 5 seconds and then it goes power off.

[egeezer]

Open a terminal and try the following for reboot:

sudo shutdown -r now

Or for total shutdown and power off

sudo shutdown now -h -P

Not really a fix, mind you, but a workaround. And don't forget, 13.04 reaches end-of-life January 27 (two weeks from Monday!)

[prookie]

Thank you egeezer for commands. Unfortunately, this didn't make the change; reboot and shutdown still hangs.

But there is something different what I see in the shutdown printout:

* Killing all remaining processes... [fail]
modem-manager[657]: <info> Caught signal 15, shutting down...
modem-manager[657]: <info> modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (registered -> disabling)
* Deactivating swap... [ OK ]
mount: / is busy
* Will now halt

I have to mention the fact that I've upgraded to Xubuntu 13.10 by reinstalling Xubuntu. The title of this thread is old for months, but I didn't want to start a new one.
I hoped that upgrading to 13.10 will make a change but it didn't. On the contrary, when I was using 12.04 installation I didn't have this problem. I somehow believe that kernel upgrade brought this fault and it's sneaking through revisions.

[egeezer]

Did you ever use a USB and remove it without either unmounting or (preferably) ejecting it? I saw the reference to USB0 in your earlier post, and since your root partition is "busy", I wondered if it is busy with something that appears as mounted but really isn't.

(Sorry about the incoherent description, but I've had troubles myself with mounted stuff not going away!)

[mörgæs]

Changed the title accordingly.

Do you care for testing 14.04 in a fresh install? If we are dealing with a bug it would be good to get it fixed in 14.04, as this is a long term support release.

[prookie]

Did you ever use a USB and remove it without either unmounting or (preferably) ejecting it? I saw the reference to USB0 in your earlier post, and since your root partition is "busy", I wondered if it is busy with something that appears as mounted but really isn't.

The most important USB device I use is wireless modem for 3G. The model is Huawei E372 Dual Carrier HSPA+. When it is plugged in USB, I usually do not see it on Desktop as a mounted device. I see it only when I attach microSD card in the modem and then the icon is created but only for my device as a storage.
I do not follow special procedure for unmounting the device. But as I recall, the system hangs on shutdown no matter is the modem plugged or not. I will make a test today late afternoon to confirm this.

[prookie]

Do you care for testing 14.04 in a fresh install? If we are dealing with a bug it would be good to get it fixed in 14.04, as this is a long term support release.

Of course, I would be glad if I can help to Xubuntu somehow. I was using Windows XP for 8 years on my laptop and as it was announced that the end of support for Windows XP is April 2014, I was looking for replacement. I found Xubuntu as the best solution for me in Linux world.
I have to admit that my knowledge of core Linux is low. I understand some basic concepts but I'm far from troubleshooting faults, chasing bugs and finding solution. I would definitely need some guidance. Also, due to private obligations I will have a slow pace of making test scenarios.

If all above is acceptable, please, can you tell me where to start? I would like to get familiar with some documentation.