Sometimes shutdown will display a shutdown message at the past after a reboot or restart. The problem occurs when a shutdown or halt is given with a time eg. shutdown -r 5 The restart is executed but the system displays the former shutdown time and date and no user is allowed to logon except root.
There was a problem with the SysVinit package where doing a shutdown with time would not remove the /etc/nologin file properly thus not allowing users to login after the machine is restarted. An updated errata package was placed on the support section of our web site to alleviate this problem. Please obtain and install it and then reopen the bug report if this does not solve the problem for you. http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/rhl/rh51-errata-general.html#SysVinit