Ubuntu 10.10 on a Mac Mini 2010 (Model #A1347) Boot up problem - blank screen

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Ubuntu 10.10 on a Mac Mini 2010 (Model #A1347) Hi,

I just bought a Mac Mini with the following specs: 2.4ghz Intel core 2 Duo Nvidia Geforce 320M graphics HDMI and Mini display port

I installed Refit and then created a bootable usb of Ubuntu amd64 iso (10.10) desktop edition.

I booted into refit, selected linux icon (boot from pen drive, no issues there?) and it comes up with a screen that has a little pic of a keyboard = human in circle. Well anyway I leave it for about a minute and then I see all this text telling me that ubuntu is loading, and the files it is loading. it goes too fast to read but in any case after that the screen turns off and won't come back on again. The computer doesn't seem to have frozen, it just seems that the monitor won't come on.

When I press the power button once on the back of the mac the hard drive does some work and it shuts down, i can only imagine it is shutting down gracefully.

I've tried using both the DVI and the VGA components of the monitor. Neither work, the screen always comes up blank.

I've also gone and burnt the iso to cd and tried to boot it but that doesn't work either.

I get the feeling that it's something to do with the display drivers, but since I can't even see the monitor how am I going to be able to get it to use different drivers?

Do I need to edit some start up scripts on the USB so that it uses a very basic legacy driver or is there some sort of switch like "nomodeset" i have to use? and if so, how would I do this without being able to ever see the screen after that initial screen with the keyboard = human in circle?

Could really use some help here, thanks!

Jason

Posted 2010-11-05T01:14:56.443

Reputation: 1 619

Guys, I've also tried ubuntu recovery mode and still no luck. The screen turns off after it has loaded some usb drivers. I think it loads something after that but the screen goes off too fast for me to read what is happening. – Jason – 2010-11-06T22:57:05.150

Answers

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Hey Guys, just to expand on what Resai said.

The solution:

  1. Grab the Alternate install CD for Ubuntu 10.10 http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/alternative-download/ Click on the file named ubuntu-10.10-alternate-amd64.iso. I like to use the torrent, it's so much faster.

  2. Burn it onto a USB or a DVD. Then boot from it. If you can't boot from it or don't know how, the best way is to install Refit from MAC OSX (http://refit.sourceforge.net/#download) hopefully you haven't deleted mac os x yet :)

  3. Boot from you usb and it should come up with a menu that has several options including "Install Ubuntu". Press f6 here and press spacebar on the "nomodeset" option

  4. Install as you normally do, taking care to put grub on /dev/sda (ie the default)

  5. Boot up wait a while it'll be a white screen for longer than usual, which made me nervous the whole thing was broken. It'll come to refit, it'll show the linux icon (boot linux from HD)

  6. Select Linux and when it comes to the grub boot menu, instead of pressing enter, press f6 and it'll load up ubuntu.

  7. problem solved :D

Jason

Posted 2010-11-05T01:14:56.443

Reputation: 1 619

Everything seems to work except Ubuntu doesn't respond to any of my USB keyboards once the GUI is booted up. Did you run into this? Do you use an official Apple keyboard? (maybe that's my problem). – DuckMaestro – 2011-03-16T06:19:38.323

Hey I didn't have this problem and I wasn't using an official apple keyboard. I think you should update your usb drivers though. If i find out how to do this I'll let you know – Jason – 2011-03-16T23:18:02.683

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Add the following option when installing Ubuntu in graphical mode (press F6 to access extra options):

nomodeset reboot=pci

ivo

Posted 2010-11-05T01:14:56.443

Reputation: 1

Asked: 2010-11-05T01:14:56.443

Viewed: 3 312 times

Active: 2012-11-27T22:23:54.400