Sometimes my Mac (Power Mac G4 MDD running 10.5.4) doesn't shut down as expected, the mouse cursor remains on the screen and while you can actually move it, that's all, no Dock, no apps running, no Apple menu… no way to shut it down 'politely'.
On a first thought I guessed it could be one of the two PCI USB2 cards the MDD has inside, so I removed it… but that didn't do it. Then I took it the easy way, to create a new fresh user account and try it there… and guess what?, no issue at all.
So it could be any software installed but I can't guess which one could prevent a proper shutdown… there are some topics about it here and those point to a certain software I don't have installed and never had. I don't have any hack or 'weird' utilities running on Leopard.
As for hardware, my peripherals aren't nothing special either, several printers (two Canon, one HP LaserJet, one DYMO LabelWriter), an EyeTV compatible USB2 TV-tuner and a LaCie brick (red model, if you wonder about it) external USB2 HD and the Apple Pro Speakers.
This is not an always fail to shutdown issue, it's kind of a random thing, well, not that random really, if I start up the Mac and then I shutdown it after getting into the OS X desktop, odds are it is going to shutdown properly; on the other hand, if the Mac is up doing stuff for a while, then the shutdown could be OK or not… I fail to find a pattern there.
So I wonder if there is a log I can look into that might shed some light or any other option to find the culprit whatever it is… TIA.
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