My PC won't shutdown or restart after a May 16, 2020 upgrade

I'm a beginner, too, but I would try this one:
In Terminal, enter pkexec caja . This will open Caja as superuser.
Navigate to /var/crash and delete the log files.

Press the I/O on your machine and wait until it has shut down completely.
Make a cup of tea.
When back, turn the system on again, and hopefully, it works now.

Hi Newhere,
Thanks for your reply. Before deleting log files I would like to know first exactly why this problem is occurring and correct it to the root. I am afraid to erase the info in the log file. Is this a common thing to do?
The best for me would be to have someone or something (a Ubuntu software) help me get to the root of the problem and guiding me on how to fix it.

You can of course open them and copy the error into a search engine and read about it.
This is what I did when I was one of those with a system error after the start of UM 18.04.

What I learned back then was that such error messages disappear once you have emptied the crash report folder. In other words, the system shows the message because it's still in var/crash, but the system itself works fine.

I suppose in your case, the system had a real crash on May 16, but works fine since then. Because the crash report is still in var/crash, therefore the system tells you "Hi, there was something". It has become a hoax.
ERROR: apport (pid 9415) Sat May 16 23:19:24 2020: wrote report /var/crash/_usr_bin_marco.1000.crash

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Hi guys :slight_smile:
Marco is the GUI animation component.
Temporary you can swith to a other one here :

Next maybe try to reinstall it. Is marco still installed ?

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Thanks Newhere for your explanations. I will use your trick to search the error on the web.

In fact my system never crashed, it just won't shutdow when I ask for it, or when I asked multiple times to restart the system after other updates I made. It's not possible since mid-May.

I talked about this marco error because I saw the word "error" in the apport.log.1 report, but maybe it has nothing to do with my problem. Maybe I should check other logs too?

I don't know where to go in the system to find and resolve what causes the problem.

Thanks Olek, I will try this.
Yes Marco is yet installed on my computer.

Do not hesitate to share your logs to investigate with you.
I'm advising you to do a shutdown -r in a command line and next if its not rebooting, do a dmesg and share some last lines of that with us.

I would like also to know exactly what do you mean by "won't" shutdown. Is the OS shutdown but the hardware is still running (black lighted screen) or your OS after shutdown command do nothing like something like a app is blocking the shutdown process, or if you stuck at the ubuntu mate shutdown screen.

Hi Olek,

I did what you suggest in Mate Tweak (change from Marco to another Window manager) but it did not fixed the problem.

I tried a shutdown -r using the Terminal but still did not worked, it did not reboot. When you say to do a dmesg you mean I must type in the Terminal "sudo dmesg" ? Which logs should I share with you? there is so many in the System Journal...

When I say "won't shut down/restart" I mean the OS shutdown well (screen is normal and becomes black with no delay) but the hardware is still running (the fan and lights are on). Thanks for the precision.

Also I forgot to mention I have 2-parted PC: one OS is Ubuntu-Mate 18.04.4 LTS (Bionic Beaver) 64-bit and the other OS is MS Windows 10. I have no problem shutting down/rebooting with MS Windows, only with Ubuntu Mate, and only since mid-may when I accepted all the upgrades automatically suggested by the system.

Also forgot to mention that when I start my computer with Ubuntu-Mate, I get an automatic message that there is a software problem (but won't say which one). I click on submit the error to Ubuntu each time.

@olek : I did a dmesg and here is some last lines:

[ 6.023310] kvm: disabled by bios
[ 6.084873] kvm: disabled by bios
[ 6.085390] MCE: In-kernel MCE decoding enabled.
[ 6.086368] EDAC amd64: Node 0: DRAM ECC disabled.
[ 6.086368] EDAC amd64: ECC disabled in the BIOS or no ECC capability, module will not load.
Either enable ECC checking or force module loading by setting 'ecc_enable_override'.
(Note that use of the override may cause unknown side effects.)
[ 6.189168] EDAC amd64: Node 0: DRAM ECC disabled.
[ 6.189170] EDAC amd64: ECC disabled in the BIOS or no ECC capability, module will not load.
Either enable ECC checking or force module loading by setting 'ecc_enable_override'.
(Note that use of the override may cause unknown side effects.)
[ 6.189192] kvm: disabled by bios
[ 6.260807] kvm: disabled by bios
[ 6.261102] EDAC amd64: Node 0: DRAM ECC disabled.
[ 6.261103] EDAC amd64: ECC disabled in the BIOS or no ECC capability, module will not load.
Either enable ECC checking or force module loading by setting 'ecc_enable_override'.
(Note that use of the override may cause unknown side effects.)
[ 6.336537] EDAC amd64: Node 0: DRAM ECC disabled.
[ 6.336539] EDAC amd64: ECC disabled in the BIOS or no ECC capability, module will not load.
Either enable ECC checking or force module loading by setting 'ecc_enable_override'.
(Note that use of the override may cause unknown side effects.)


@olek @Newhere

I did what @Newhere suggested and deleted the log files in the var/crash directory. It made disappear the automatic message I got when opening my PC that said I have a software problem.

It does not solve my problem of not shutting down or restart on request, but it did bring to light another problem that suddenly appeared in the Terminal window after I did the "pkexec caja" command and spent time in Caja to find the var/crash directory, etc. Here is what was shown in the Terminal:

RuntimeError: object at 0x7fbc68de45f0 of type RenameMenu is not initialized
RuntimeError: object at 0x7fbc68de4410 of type FolderColorMenu is not initialized
Gtk-Message: 21:37:04.894: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
** (caja:2380): WARNING **: 21:45:35.513: Could not inhibit power management: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Name "org.gnome.SessionManager" does not exist
RuntimeError: object at 0x7fbc68de45f0 of type RenameMenu is not initialized
RuntimeError: object at 0x7fbc68de4410 of type FolderColorMenu is not initialized
(caja:2380): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 21:47:54.682: gtk_container_foreach: assertion 'GTK_IS_CONTAINER (container)' failed
sys:1: Warning: instance with invalid (NULL) class pointer
sys:1: Warning: g_signal_handlers_disconnect_matched: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

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Stupid question, but can you tell us what version of Ubuntu Mate you have got?

This is "normal" when we type
~$ pkexec caja
Initializing caja-open-terminal extension
RuntimeError: object at 0x7f75c86e5af0 of type RenameMenu is not initialized
RuntimeError: object at 0x7f75c86dd780 of type FolderColorMenu is not initialized

The rest isn't. I leave that with the experts.

I got a issue like this on my previous thinkpad. If i remember good, i made it fully stop HW side adding a setting to grub :

Inside /etc/default/grub change this setting :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi=force"

you can edit the file with nano that is simple to use :

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Next do a grub update with this command :

sudo update-grub

Next reboot and once back try shutdown again.

Edit : I saw also that some guys are using this setting at the same place :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="apm=power_off"
You can give it a try but if the first one is not working - acpi=force

The good think now is how much you will learn troubleshooting your problem and how good time you will spend on it :slight_smile:

Let's give a chance to this settings :slight_smile: otherwise we will continue digging ! :slight_smile:

Thanks @Newhere ! I didnt know that :slight_smile:
I got a slack crash inside /var/crash/ and just removed it thanks to you :slight_smile:

Thanks @Newhere for your reply. My version of Ubuntu-Mate is tagged in the title of my message but here it is: 18.04.4 LTS (Bionic Beaver) 64-bit.

Thanks @olek for your suggestions. I am afraid to play with GRUB which appears normal. I am sooo newbie.

Why can't I just undo the update(s) that caused the problem in the first place? Would you know with which tool I could use to identify that problematic update(s) ? The 2 errors that I deleted from var/crash yesterday both referred to "architecture: amd64", one was sbin/lightdm.0 and the other was bin/marco.1000

My system was working fine before those updates, except for Caja that was not working well from the start (as those lines from the Terminal suggests-like Simone is saying):

tk-Message: 21:37:04.894: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
** (caja:2380): WARNING **: 21:45:35.513: Could not inhibit power management: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Name "org.gnome.SessionManager" does not exist
RuntimeError: object at 0x7fbc68de45f0 of type RenameMenu is not initialized
RuntimeError: object at 0x7fbc68de4410 of type FolderColorMenu is not initialized
(caja:2380): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 21:47:54.682: gtk_container_foreach: assertion 'GTK_IS_CONTAINER (container)' failed
sys:1: Warning: instance with invalid (NULL) class pointer
sys:1: Warning: g_signal_handlers_disconnect_matched: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

Do not be afraid to change this settings. It will continue working as it is, or with luck working better :slight_smile:
If something bad is happening once you have gave a try to that, I'm writing you the steps to undo this changes.

Try it, and if you have troubles to boot, you can remove this additional settings at boot time. Imagine it is not booting anymore :
In GRUB menu at the first line (default) press the "e" key. It will show you all the command line to run your OS. You will see things we have added by hand there, you can remove things we have added and next do Ctrl + X to run. It will boot as before. Next we will remove definitively what we done for test and update-grub .

-> A less risky solution for you, if you are afraid to practice grub at this stage with permanent things
Swith off your PC - fully.
Start it and inn GRUB do press the "e" key. It will show you all the command line to run your OS. You will see and will be able to temporary update :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi=force"

or with a other try :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="apm=power_off"

Next do Ctrl + X to run it.
Next do your shutdown tests.
If its not booting, no stress, it was temporary and nothing will happen. You will reboot it and all will be as before.

My opinion is that the kernel you are running now is in a conflict with your hardware.
If this what we are going to try is not working, i will advise you to upgrade your kernel (possible with a well done GUI tool with no worries)

Do not be afraid to practice, its a way to learn :slight_smile:

Hi @olek, I did:

Citation Inside /etc/default/grub change this setting :
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
to
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi=force"> Citation

In the above-mentioned terminal window I did Crtl+O and pressed enter to write and modify the file. I think I succeeded like shows the Screen Shot herein.

Except after it asks the name of the file to write (which shows etc/default/grub) : Help button shows commands like M-D to write to Format-Dos, M-A to add to the end, etc. What do I must select ? I don't understand how I can select those M-D, M-A type of command anyway. If I press M-something it is writing the letter M-something next to the name of the file.

Hey back :slight_smile:
Try again to get inside the file with :

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Do the modification again if it went away, next once you are done, as you said do Ctrl+o to save the file.
Nano will ask you for destination file name.

image

We keep the one we are editing, so just press enter.
Next exit nano with Ctrl+x

next you can do to insure its in place :

cat /etc/default/grub | grep acpi

that will print you the line :

image

Do not forget next to sudo update-grub and do not stop this command that will take something like 60sec

Good luck there :slight_smile:

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Hi @olek,

Ok the modification in nano with acpi=force had been registered the first time finally. I did the sudo update-grub also. But you say reboot after that but that's my problem (my PC doesn't reboot/shutdown when asked).
Unfortunately it did'nt worked. I Still have to shutdown the hardware manually.

I'm tired of this. I wish I could enjoy being my own IT technician like you guys do... I desperately need an Ubuntu Guide for dummies that's for sure. Does such a thing exists? I could not find such a thing here.

Is Not being able to reboot my system a problem after all ? If not, I think I will leave it this way until I receive the system automatic message to upgrade to 20.04 LTS version.

Try a new reboot :slight_smile:
If still not working, replace the what we done with :

"apm=power_off"
and sudo update-grub of course :wink:

and reboot twice again (the setting you are doing will take place at next reboot reason why 2 reboots needed).

If still not ok, we will do a kernel upgrade (with GUI so no worries) :slight_smile:
And if its still not ok, give me your HW detail, i will try to dig more my side.

Good luck :slight_smile:

ok @olek I did

Citation "apm=power_off"
and sudo update-grub
and reboot (manually) twice it's still not working.

Citation Is Not being able to reboot my system a problem after all ?
Thanks for all your help :upside_down_face:

OK :slight_smile:
Plan B, lets upgrade your kernel.

Do install this tool :

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:cappelikan/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mainline

Do disable secure boot inside your BIOS (it can prevent your new kernel to boot)
I case something is going wrong, you still have the possibility to boot your previous working kernel from grub.

Once you have it :