[Ubuntu/Mint] Massive issue installing on late 2011 Macbook Pro, black screen after selecting instal

Purdy · 8 Jul 2013 at 13:25

Hi

So basically as per title massive issue installing either of these distros on MBP late 2011 (8.1 I think, 15")

I have followed the guide on ubuntus site of getting the distro in ,IMG/DMG format through terminal and putting on an unmounted USB, I have also tried the direct ISO through unetbootin with the same results.

Once I reboot I hold alt and select the edfi boot with USB logo and I get the chance to select either boot without ibstall / install / check disk for errors(or something to that effect).

When I select any of these screen goes black, 30 secs later keyboard backlight comes on, I can press arrow keys and hear presumably menu noises but screen remains black.

anyone got any ideas spent hours yesterday with no success unfortunately

please ask if any additional info would help

jack.mitchell · 8 Jul 2013 at 13:36

Straight from google:

When you see the boot menu when you boot LiveCD, hit F6 and select the “nomodeset” option.

Try that.

Edit: You can also try plugging in an external monitor, as it may have detected the external connection as being the 'primary' one.

Purdy · 8 Jul 2013 at 13:54

Unfortunately I don't have the thunderbolt(I think thats it) cable to connect a monitor.

I get a weird menu than one described in most posts, I've seen the nomodeset option and removing the quiet splash thing, I press E to edit the options as their is no F6 option, maybe I should take pictures of what I see.

I also tried nomodeset in the actual boot/grub/config file and it gives me a non blank screen but lots of text scrolling and then gets stuck on 'killing' something, I forget current but I'll go look it up and it just repeats that indefinitely (or for 20minutes at least

)

jack.mitchell · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:02

Are you using the latest Ubuntu (13.04). If so, do you have a specific reason for using Ubuntu; could you try Fedora for instance?

Purdy · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:04

I'm using 12.04 as its the LTS, I'm using Ubuntu because well I read 'if you have to ask which one to use, you should probably use Ubuntu'

. If I'm getting the same issue with Mint isn't it likely the same will happen for Fedora etc?

jack.mitchell · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:07

Not necessarily, Mint is based on Ubuntu, which is why they probably show the same problem. Where as Fedora is completely different setup. Personally I would either try Ubuntu 13.04, or give the latest Fedora a spin rather than fighting with graphic driver problems on older Linux Kernel versions.

Purdy · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:08

Ah I've read that Linux Kernels after 3.5(I think this was the number) don't battle with these issues, would that be correct for Fedora?

And on that note is Ubuntu/Mint older than that Kernel then?

jack.mitchell · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:17

Ubuntu 12.04 was released around 8th Oct 2012.

If you see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel#Maintenance

You can see that 3.4 is an LTS Linux Kernel, so I would guess that Ubuntu 12.04 uses the 3.4 kernel on the installation media.

Fedora 19 on the other hand has just been released (2nd July) and looks to be using the 3.9 kernel.

Ubuntu 13.04 is using 3.8.8 (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RaringRingtail/ReleaseNotes#Linux_kernel_3.8.8)

Purdy · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:23

Alright I'll give Fedora a whirl later, after all the good things you hear about Linux it isn't half an arse to set up, mind you I guess apples restrictive hardware doesn't help much either

jack.mitchell · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:32

This is the problem see, if companies would open up a bit and give some more details about there hardware these problems would evaporate. It tends to get exaggerated with Apple hardware due to thier 'similar but slightly custom' hardware.

I totally agree though; unfortunatly, it's not always just point and click with Linux.

Another issue with Ubuntu is that they make hundreds of tiny little changes to the Linux Kernel to try and improve hardware compatibility; but what this actually does, is it makes problems with Ubuntu, unique to Ubuntu (and it's derivitives). The changes they make sometimes have a domino effect on other drivers, and because of this it's quite difficult to trace Ubuntu problems because they tend to be very specific to the Ubutu version of the Linux Kernel.

Fedora and other distributions do sometimes add patches, but not in the same quantity as Ubuntu; which IMO makes it much easier to debug and find fixes, as they are usually problems with the Linux Kernel, not 3rd party changes that have been hacked on and often poorly tested.

Purdy · 8 Jul 2013 at 14:48

Thanks for the help and explanations mate, will report back later if any success with Fedora.

Purdy · 8 Jul 2013 at 18:30

Okay I've run into the error

i915 invalid rom contents
radeon invalid rom contents
radeon invalid rom contents

and it just hangs at this point after attempting to load Fedora, so again it must be a graphics issue?

I've read this - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook_Pro_8,1_/_8,2_/_8,3_(2011)

Unfortunately haven't got a baldy about adding those Kernel Parameters, do I do it in the EFI Shell when I first boot? (Sorry I'm a bit thick/new at this, first ever Linux boot and Mac probably wasn't the best idea for it.)

uniQ · 8 Jul 2013 at 19:33

Run it as a virtual machine in Virtual Box?

jack.mitchell · 9 Jul 2013 at 10:15

Morning Purdy,

Reading around it seems this is a really unfortuanate MacBook, EFI coupled with an awkward dual graphics configuration certainly does not make for easy setup and auto-detection!

There was a comment somewhere which suggested adding 'noefi' to the GRUB command line, when the live CD boots up and it says 'Boot Fedora' or whatever, press 'e' (for edit) then add 'noefi' to the kernel command line, if you see the word 'ro', then that is the kernel command line.

My other half has a MacBook pro that I fought with for days setting up properly and I think that I used a legacy boot mode, rather than EFI but I can't really remember.

jack.mitchell · 9 Jul 2013 at 10:20

Also, it seems that a recent firmware update may have caused issues with the graphics on MacBooks... there are quite a few factors at play here I'm afraid!

Purdy · 9 Jul 2013 at 14:38

, I've had tips from reddit to install from CD, do you think that'll make much difference?

I'll try the noefi in the GRUB cmnd line.

What do you mean by ' if you see the word 'ro', then that is the kernel command line.', when I press e I get command lines looking like 'grub>' and insert my command, when I type the ones I've been given in I get no message.

jack.mitchell · 10 Jul 2013 at 10:22

Installing from the CD will make no difference.

I don't use grub so I'm afraid I don't know how to edit the command line 'in place' rather than just drop to the grub command line.

It might be worth a visit to the Fedora IRC channel and to speak to someone there.