What is the difference between command [reboot vs reboot -f]

[sudarsanam]

Hi every one,
I'm able to reboot my target board with the

processor [mpc5200] using the command [reboot -f]

from the bash prompt.
But i can't able to reboot by the command [reboot].
What should i need to do if i want to use the

command [reboot]
Plz help me.
Thanks in Advance

[linuxscope]

Reboot notes that the system is being brought down. ther tells the kernel to halt, reboot or poweroff the system. If halt or reboot is called when the system is not in runlevel 0 or 6, shut­
down( will be invoked instead.

Reboot -f is force halt without invoking shutdown.

[sudarsanam]

Thanks for the reply,

The inittab is a file it is following path.
rootfs/etc/inittab

The content in the file is given bellow. I had placed initdefault as runlevel-5
id:5:initdefault:
si:5:sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
sh:5:respawn:/bin/bash
s1::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -r now
s2:owerfail:/sbin/shutdown -h +2

I'd placed rc5.d & rc6.d in the following path rootfs/etc/rc.d/ .
Eventhough when i tried to reboot the system from kernel using the command "reboot".

I'm receving the statement as follows,
INIT: Switching to runlevel: 6
INIT: Sending processes the TERM signal
INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel


When i tried to reboot the system with the command "reboot -f". The target board reboots properly.

what are all the things i need to check.

Please give me a clear solution

Thanks in Advance