Macbook won't restart normally, but "sudo reboot" works fine...

Replaced my Macbook A1181's hard drive. Works fine, except there is no normal shutdown or restart. After I answer "Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?", the desktop clears, then nothing.
I don't mind having to do a hard shutdown every time, but some new programs require a restart after installation. Using "sudo reboot" in Terminal restarts this thing just fine, but doesn't help me finish new installations.
Repairing permissions didn't fix it, either. Is there a simple fix?

You replaced the hard drive but you didn't say how or if you copied over from your old drive? How did you recover? Asking because it sounds like you either didn't get a good migrate or something got corrupted in the process. Maybe time to install clean on the new drive?

Used Disk Utility to clone my hard drive to a new external drive. This cleared up an issue I'd had with the old drive (desktop icons wouldn't mount).

Then, carefully, I physically swapped the drives (I've replaced the display on this computer, and changed the battery on an iPod Classic—this project was easy by comparison). I used the OS X installation disks to make any needed repairs.

Have tried a PMC reset, to no avail. This thing won't shut down or restart as it should. But "sudo reboot" works. There's got to be a fix...

Used Disk Utility to clone my hard drive to a new external drive. This cleared up an issue I'd had with the old drive (desktop icons wouldn't mount).

Click to expand...

I've been there and done that myself several times only to have to resort to a clean install and restore from Time Machine. That's what I suggest you do now to see if that clears it up.

Many thanks. I'll follow your advice and see how it goes.