I have exactly the same issue here and Apple could not help at all despite trying very hard. So far I have tried all the following measures:
1. Reset SMC
2. Reset NVRAM
3. Check and Repair Disk Permissions
4. Check and Repair Disk
5. Uncheck LOGIN items.
6. Created new User Account
7. Force Quit all running applications
8. Archive and Install after checking Install disk for consistency
9. Applied two most recent Leopard updates
10. Backed up, deleted and recreated partition, followed by Erase and Install after checking install disk for consistency. Lost Bootcamp with Windows partition in the process. Re-installed software and Apple updates.
NOTHING WORKS. At least nothing lets you successfully SHUT DOWN or RESTART twice in a row.
All this has taken close to 14 hours; just one of the phone calls lasted 1hr 45min. Of course, since I am a recent convert to Apple (from MS Windows) I am psychologically prepared for much worse. I called Apple twice, once Level 2 Support. It is frustrating that they do not listen but follow a script. I told them about many of the things I had tried on my own (items 1, 2 and 3 in the list) but they made me redo them again. The level 2 guy suggested the Erase and Install (after deleting partition).
I know that if I call again they will tell me it is a hardware problem (they kind of already did) and ask me to mail in the computer or bring it to a store. And I know that is not true since everything was A-OK with Tiger.
I have finally understood the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Microsoft rarely works out of the box and fails often but mostly you know what is wrong and with time and effort can fix it. There is a culture of things breaking so there is a culture of fixing. Apple just works most of the time but when something is broken no one (not even Mac Geniuses and Level Two support people) really knows what is going on. So when thigs break they follow robotic scripts and eventually blame everything on hardware which they might replace. There is no culture of things breaking so there is no culture of fixing. A similar thing happened when my Macbook was brand new. The wireless connection (Airport) would drop connection unexpectedly when running on battery. Nothing worked and Apple suggested a motherboard replacement (blame the hardware) but I knew from the forums that people had the problem even after such replacement and desisted. Instead I set up a constant PING to keep the connection alive or exclusively used AC power. One day, a firmware update arrived and everything was A-OK. Then as now, no one really seemed to know what was going on, hardware was blamed and there was a refusal to admit that the problem was widespread. Even though I provided forum links to them where people were posting they ignored it. **** one guy even had a "How To" page with the PING hack.
The best strategy people: LIVE WITH IT. The magicians who write OS X will eventually cook up a patch which will silently fix it. I love the rest of Leopard. I hardly ever need to SHUT DOWN or RESTART anyway. So don't waste your time discussing the issue with tech support: THEY ARE AS CLUELESS AS YOU. If you must, discuss it on this forum kinda like a support group. Patience and time will heal all. And post any hacks if you know they will work.
All this has moved me to make a philosophical observation:
Apple is like the Garden of Eden before Adam climbed the Tree of Knowledge. It's perfect but you live in ignorance. Microsoft is like the same garden after Adam bit into that apple. You suffer but you are blessed with gift of knowledge. Perhaps this explains why most Macs are white and PCs black.
The choice is yours.
JR
