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I'm trying to reinstall Ubuntu 20.04 on an old MacBook Pro (late 2006) and I'm having an issue with my display during the install. I say "reinstall" because I had installed Ubuntu 20.04 back in December and it was working fine for several months - applying updates when prompted, etc. I applied some updates and then I started having display issues - blank screen, no flashing cursor. I tried a lot of things to resolve the issue and gave up and planned to do a new install. So here I am...

Here's what's happening: I put the Live/DVD in and start up the Mac holding down the "C" key. The computer starts booting off the DVD but I have a blank screen - no flashing cursor, nothing. Eventually, I'll hear the Ubuntu chime which tells me something is going on - I just can't see it.

I"ve read about a hundred articles, tried at least a dozen versions of the Live/DVD but I get the same results - blank screen.

Any thoughts on what I should try to resolve this?

FYI, the Mac boots into OS X Lion (10.7.5) just fine with no display issues.I also booted the Mac using a Snow Leopard install disk to verify the optical drive was working and it also booted into the Snow Leopard installer...

Thanks.

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    To try: reset the PRAM, live USB, another Linux disribution, an external monitor. Read the log messages from Mac OS or ssh, you may find an error with the video.
    – Pierre ALBARÈDE
    May 22, 2021 at 22:17
  • Thanks @PierreALBARÈDE! Reset the PRAM a bunch. My MacBook Pro is too old to boot from a live USB :( I did try Mint but since this is based on Ubuntu, I would assume this would have the same issues. Do you have a distro you'd recommend? I will try the external monitor sometime today to see if that shows anything. As far as logs go, since I'm booting from the live DVD, I'm not sure where the logs would go - if anywhere. Thanks again for the suggestions!
    – nabor9000
    May 23, 2021 at 14:14
  • You can try Alpine linux for example, it is very light weight so you will have results faster. Instead of USB, you can use Firewire. You can also remove the internal disk to install Linux on it from another computer. Use GPT partitioning and EFI boot (not MBR). Target disk mode should also work in principle but you may have write errors if the source OS is not Mac OS.
    – Pierre ALBARÈDE
    May 24, 2021 at 10:35
  • Update: I was able to successfully boot using a 14.06 live CD/DVD... Not sure why...
    – nabor9000
    Jun 1, 2021 at 12:10

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