I've got that issue since my first install. When choose reboot/shutdown from KDE or GNOME the system freezes on black screen whit the mouse cursor on it... If I do reboot/shutdown from shell everything is fine. I tried 3-4 fresh installs and the same... Also the all times something strange happened whit KDE/GNOME menu missing items, can't open my HOME, giving me error that says something like "desktop service not running". I've did web update, now menu seems fine, but the system still hangs on KDE/GNOME reboot/shutdown...

Any one knows what to do?

what kernel are u using?
I say try Red Hat Linux 9.0 which was much better.

You may possibly have problems with APM (Advanced Power Management). I was having trouble with Mandrake 9.2 showing the "Power Down" but not shutting off . I needed to hit the power button for it to shut off. It gets annoying after a few times . I ended up recompiling the kernel with enabling the option "General Setup -> Advanced Power Management BIOS Support -> Use real mode APM BIOS call to power off". Solved my problem nicely and system shuts down like a charm.
Hopefully this helps you. The menu being reset after updating via Mandrake Update was annoying but fixed with "update-menus". Other than that Mandrake 9.2 works great.

Hi

I got the same problem in shutdown...fixed it only adding in lilo.conf the string APM=SMP, and now it works, without need to recompile! (I use SMP Kernel...).

Cheers

Same problem here on a Dell Inspiron 8200. On attempt to shutdown from the GUI, the screen goes black, but screen artifacts can be seen scrolling by (LCD) , as if the screen were in the wrong resolution.

It will remain hung in this state until power cycled.