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I have a Macmini4,1 (most recent variant) with a Mini DisplayPort connected to a DVI monitor, and HDMI connected directly to a projector. Both monitors are on but black when booting of the ‘Natty Narwhal’ Live CD.

I hold the Option key to get into the EFI boot selector and choose the CD’s EFI boot. Grub loads, and I choose Try Ubuntu from the grub menu. From there on the screen is black.

How can I get Ubuntu to detect my available monitors? Anyone got the same experience?

Jorge Castro
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Daniel
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  • Does this happen with either of the monitors attached? For example, if you only attach a DVI monitor (no HDMI projector) do you still get a black screen? – John Lyon May 23 '11 at 04:31
  • I have tried disconnecting each of the devices and rebooted. It happens in all configurations I can make with this hardware. I even had a HDMI-to-DVI adapter laying around. Didn’t do any difference. – Daniel May 23 '11 at 04:58
  • The next step would be to try the [alternative installer](http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/alternative-download) and see if you can install from there. Often the LiveCD will load different drivers to the detection and install done during a full installation, so give that a try. – John Lyon May 23 '11 at 05:01
  • This often happens to me too. Interested to see how to answer this question. – boehj May 31 '11 at 23:12
  • edit: wrong thread – jokoon Sep 25 '13 at 18:07

2 Answers2

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press f6 and select nomodeset before selecting try Ubuntu and should work fine. The problem is with the nvidia oss driver. once installed you can select the correct nvidia driver.

netfun81
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There is a list of common boot options available at the LiveCd page at help.ubuntu.com.

Of the ones listed there I recommend xforcevesa or even text.

To pass boot options to the kernel at boot time from the menu, press F6 and then Escape.

koanhead
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