Laptops :: Shutdown issues on HP Omnibook 800 CT
I'm running a straight HD install on an old HP Omnibook 800 CT Pentium 166 laptop with 48MB memory. Mostly it works great, but the thing won't power down when the system goes down. To install it I had to use a floppy and USB key plugged into a docking station (no working CD-ROMs), which I don't wish to use on the road.
APM is enabled in the BIOS; I deleted the "noapm" option from the grub bootline. At shutdown, I get a "DSL Halted" notice and a flashing cursor. Hitting the power button at that point does one of two things: if the unit is plugged in, the display powers off, although hitting it again brings up the "DSL Halted" screen and startup requires a ctl-alt-delete reboot. If the unit is not plugged in, hitting the power button does absolutely nothing.
In addition to removing "noapm" from the grub bootline, I've also commented out references in fstab to a floppy and a cdrom that were connected to the docking station but are not connected to the laptop. So far no effect. Any ideas? Many thanks.
Okay--I've discovered that despite having inserted an apm=on command in /etc/boot/grub/menu.lst, then rebooting, then installing apmd via Synaptic, then invoking "apmd start", all I get is a message stating that there is no apm support in the kernel. I'm running DSL 2.3--should I be running another version?
Well, it seems like I'm talking to myself here, but for the benefit of anyone listening in, I solved the poweroff/apm issue with a re-install from the usb key and boot floppy, no extraneous hardware on the dock, and the proper boot arguments (apm=on, dma). I should add for the benefit of anyone else owning one of these dear old machines that I got the sound working by moving the sound card to irq 7 in the bios and adding the line "modprobe sb" to the /opt/bootlocal.sh script. I finally have a production machine I can take on the road--thanks to all you folks who put DSL together. It's a great distro. What used to be an amazing machine (under 5 lbs and built like a tank) is once again doing what it was meant to do.
Glad you got it going.. at last..hope you enjoy dsl on the road. 
I'm trying to get my old 800CT back to business as well, but I have serious trouble with the built in mouse! How have you got it to work? Choosing PS2 makes the pointer jump around and clicking is impossible. With the USB choice nothing works ... Any ideas?
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