diff --git a/helpers.c b/helpers.c
index 04bd2cb5..ce9c2326 100644
--- a/helpers.c
+++ b/helpers.c
@@ -617,11 +617,17 @@ int run_parts(char *dir, ...)
 	qsort(ent, num, sizeof(char *), cmp);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < num; i++) {
+		int j = 0, status;
 		pid_t pid = 0;
-		int status;
 
-		args[0] = ent[i];
-		args[1] = NULL;
+		args[j++] = ent[i];
+		/* Check if S<NUM>service or K<NUM>service notation is used */
+		if (ent[i][0] == 'S' && isdigit(ent[i][1])) {
+			args[j++] = "start";
+		} else if (ent[i][0] == 'K' && isdigit(ent[i][1])) {
+			args[j++] = "stop";
+		}
+		args[j++] = NULL;
 
 		pid = fork();
 		if (!pid) {
diff --git a/plugins/alsa-utils.c b/plugins/alsa-utils.c
index cf43e263..9100521a 100644
--- a/plugins/alsa-utils.c
+++ b/plugins/alsa-utils.c
@@ -27,14 +27,14 @@
 
 static void save(void *UNUSED(arg))
 {
-	_d("Saving system clock to RTC ...");
-	run_interactive("/usr/sbin/alsactl store > /dev/null 2>&1", "Saving sound settings");
+	_d("Saving sound settings ...");
+	run_interactive("/usr/sbin/alsactl -g store", "Saving sound settings");
 }
 
 static void restore(void *UNUSED(arg))
 {
-	_d("Restoring system clock from RTC ...");
-	run_interactive("/usr/sbin/alsactl restore > /dev/null 2>&1", "Restoring sound settings");
+	_d("Restoring sound settings ...");
+	run_interactive("/usr/sbin/alsactl -g restore", "Restoring sound settings");
 }
 
 static plugin_t plugin = {
diff --git a/svc.c b/svc.c
index 63431bfd..92a4ee3d 100644
--- a/svc.c
+++ b/svc.c
@@ -273,6 +273,20 @@ int svc_start(svc_t *svc)
         sigset_t nmask, omask;
 	char *args[MAX_NUM_SVC_ARGS];
 
+	if (!svc)
+		return 0;
+
+	/* Don't try and start service if it doesn't exist. */
+	if (!fexist(svc->cmd)) {
+		char msg[80];
+
+		snprintf(msg, sizeof(msg), "Service %s does not exist!", svc->cmd);
+		print_desc("", msg);
+		print_result(1);
+
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	/* Ignore if finit is SIGSTOP'ed */
 	if (is_norespawn())
 		return 0;
@@ -329,7 +343,10 @@ int svc_start(svc_t *svc)
 			_e("%starting %s: %s", respawn ? "Res" : "S", svc->cmd, buf);
 		}
 
-		execvp(svc->cmd, args);
+		/* XXX: Maybe change to use execve() to be able to launch scripts? */
+		execv(svc->cmd, args);
+
+		/* Only reach this point if exec() fails. */
 		exit(0);
 	}
 	svc->pid = pid;