Perhaps not so useful, but I am using dapper on amd64 (fresh install) with an nVidia FX5900 on an ABit AV8 (latest BIOS) and I see no problems with the splash screens while booting or shutting down. from my perspective it would be a shame if those screens went away, but I appreciate that this is a bug that Ubuntu has very little control over.
Perhaps not so useful, but I am using dapper on amd64 (fresh install) with an nVidia FX5900 on an ABit AV8 (latest BIOS) and I see no problems with the splash screens while booting or shutting down. from my perspective it would be a shame if those screens went away, but I appreciate that this is a bug that Ubuntu has very little control over.