Thanks for the links, julioromano. With 2.6.20-2-generic it's the same bad sound on the Acer (but now it doesn't power off at hibernation - just reboots right away - I'll file a new bug on this). On the Compaq I had one quiet poweroff when booting with init=/bin/bash, but a normal hibernation gave an ugly click.
-- hard drive cries out in pain at power-off https://launchpad.net/bugs/72765 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
