Ever since I've installed Kubuntu I've never had a successful shutdown. It progresses to the screen with the flashing circles underneath Kubuntu and always hangs. I can reboot fine. I can also suspend fine. Shutting down for whatever reason presents the biggest issue. I have an HP g7-1070us with Kubuntu 12.04 installed. Any ideas about how I can troubleshoot this?

is this the right forum category for this topic?

This is the correct topic.
Are you able to press Escape so you can see the progress of the shutdown (which will hopefully be printed on screen)?
The appropriate time to do this is as soon as logout has finished and the shutdown process has commenced.

I'll try that. Thanks.