Centos 7.6 Hangs on Shutdown or Reboot.

[amudry]

Hello

I am a very novice Linux user trying to get a version of CentOS 7.6 running on an HP Z800 workstation.

It seems like a decent machine, and the CentOS 7.6 installation from the DVD ISO went flawlessly except for the fact that when it was all done, it ejected the DVD, but would not reboot the system on its own. It hung at the point where it was "Rebooting". Eventually, I had to use the power button to turn it off and then on again. After the hard power reset everything seemed to be installed and working fine, but it never completes a shutdown or a reboot on its own when one is requested. Consistently it just gets to the point where it is either "Powering Off" or "Rebooting" and then it hangs, forcing me to do a hard power reset.

I started out with a 7.5 Version of CenOS that I installed fresh from DVD and it had the same problem right from install.

As a test, I installed a version of Ubuntu (18.04.1) and it shuts down and reboots the Z800 fine, but I cannot get CentOS to complete either process properly. I would prefer to stick with CentOS, but would really like to get this shutdown issue resolved.

When I saw there was a new version of CenOS out (7.6), I tried a completely new install of that, but no luck, and as in the case of 7.5, even the shell on the installation disk fails to shutdown or reboot completely if I boot from the DVD and go into the shell instead of the installation.

I have flashed the BIOS with the latest one put out by HP for the Z800.

I have read of a lot of similar CentOS shutdown problems, and have tried the solution at viewtopic.php?t=59735, as well as various options on the shutdown and init commands, but no luck.

I am not sure if it related or not, but I have also noticed that the command "sudo lshw" hangs at USB. I can run "sudo lshw -disable usb" fine.

Many of the online posts on this shutdown issue, especially those from bugzilla, are way above my level of understanding. Any tips for how a novice should systematically go about debugging this would be greatly appreciated. I am certainly willing to do some trial and error, but don't yet know my way around the various error logging options available.

Thank You

[lightman47]

Eventually, I had to use the power button to turn it off and then on again.

One thing about RedHat install's "rebooting" status message that personally irritated the daylights out of me was that appeared LONG before it was actually rebooting. In fact it was still performing setup/cleanup/and other chores. It's actually MANY MINUTES later that it actually reboots. When I see that message after an install, I go get coffee and linger elsewhere so that I am not tempted to press the power button, which clobbers part of the finalization of the 'install'.

[amudry]

Assuming the reboot works after the initial install, does the problem of long shutdown and reboot times go away, or does it still occur.
How many minutes are we talking about?

Thanks

[lightman47]

In my experience, the long reboot is only after install as I surmise it's still completing setup.

Other reboots are 'normal'.

[amudry]

I tried a complete reinstall and this time left it at the "Rebooting" prompt for an hour an a half after the install completed.
The install itself seemed fine, but after an hour and a half, I had to toggle the power switch to reboot it.
Same result. The installed Centos will not shutdown or reboot completely.

I am beginning to wonder if it is not something about the HP Z800's. My IT guy gave me a second one to try, and it seems to have similar issues with Centos shutdown, and far worse problems with the installation itself. It took me several tries to even get the install program to bring up the graphical display. Not sure what changed from power down to power down, but it eventually worked.

[lightman47]

Ahhh - never ran into that issue. Even the install reboot for me was only minutes or so.

Sorry.

[amudry]

It was worth a try. Thanks anyway.