If I change /etc/init.d/splashy to do a sleep for a few seconds, gdm shutdown works.
Below shows what happens in that pause which allows the activation of vt 8 to work without manually doing Alt-F8 Change I made to /etc/init.d/splashy ----------------------------- stop) check_to_enable logger "splashy in shutdown mode. doing clear >/dev/tty8" # avoid displaying ugly text at shutdown clear >/dev/tty8 logger "splashy in shutdown mode. doing clear >/dev/tty1" clear >/dev/tty1 logger "splashy in shutdown mode. doing sleep >/dev/tty8" # I moved the sleep around to prove that it is "protecting" splashy_chvt, not the two clear commands above sleep 10 logger "splashy in shutdown mode. doing /sbin/splasy_chvt 8" /sbin/splashy_chvt 8 --------------------------- this is the relevant extract from syslog which shows what happens during the sleep, presumably linked to the change in gdm --------------------------- Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 gdm[4080]: DEBUG: Running /sbin/shutdown -r now "Rebooted via gdm." Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 shutdown[5070]: shutting down for system reboot Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 init: Switching to runlevel: 6 Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 gdm[4080]: DEBUG: gdm_final_cleanup Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 gdm[4080]: DEBUG: gdm_display_unmanage: Stopping :0 (slave pid: 4089) Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 gdm[4089]: DEBUG: term_quit: Final cleanup Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 gdm[4089]: DEBUG: gdm_slave_quick_exit: Will kill everything from the display Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 gdm[4089]: DEBUG: gdm_server_stop: Server for :0 going down! Nov 5 22:40:05 u400 gdm[4089]: DEBUG: gdm_server_stop: Killing server pid 4101 Nov 5 22:40:06 u400 logger: splashy in shutdown mode. doing clear >/dev/tty8 Nov 5 22:40:06 u400 logger: splashy in shutdown mode. doing clear >/dev/tty1 Nov 5 22:40:06 u400 logger: splashy in shutdown mode. doing sleep >/dev/tty8 Nov 5 22:40:06 u400 gdm[4089]: DEBUG: gdm_server_stop: Server pid 4101 dead Nov 5 22:40:06 u400 gdm[4089]: DEBUG: gdm_slave_quick_exit: Killed everything from the display Nov 5 22:40:16 u400 logger: splashy in shutdown mode. doing /sbin/splasy_chvt 8 --------------------------- sleep 1 instead of sleep 10 didn't work. This is splashy_chvt --------------------------- void splashy_chvt (gint vt_no) { gint fd = g_open ("/dev/tty0", O_RDONLY | O_WRONLY); if (fd < 0) return; if (!ioctl (fd, VT_ACTIVATE, vt_no)) ioctl (fd, VT_WAITACTIVE, vt_no); close (fd); } --------------------------- it's not failing at (fd < 0), because it waits for the user to do ALT-F8 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]