Q: Is there a power-off method other than pulling the electrical plug?
A: Try the Power key! If the machine is wedged, here are the ways to try to return to the monitor, in order of safety.
Most safe:
To power off, [optional: log out from Workspace], then use Power key
If you can su to root, then in a shell use these commands:
su
/etc/halt # or /etc/halt -p to powerdown
Right Command-` # the ` is top left of the numeric keypad
# brings up a panel that asks "r", "n" or Power off
Any methods from here down might erase a sector from an optical disk if there
is any ongoing disk activity. For more information on the NMI and ROM monitors, read Chapter 17: "The NeXT ROM Monitor" in the Technical Documentation.
Command-Command-` to reach NMI monitor, then use
mon # to go to the PROM monitor
halt # to halt from the NMI monitor
Command-Alternate-* # equivalent to CMD-CMD-` followed by mon.
left Command-left Alternate-Power # equivalent to above, but turns power off
# (may not work if interrupts are hosed)
Pull the power cord # most dangerous, last resort.
Any sudden power off or halt can erase a half track on the OD. This happens
when the halt interrupts the three pass write (erase, write, verify) and leaves
a sector erased. Subsequent reads will fail with this error: