Comment 44 for bug 66900

Certainly. When you first boot, before the Ubuntu splash/progress screen, GRUB should present you with a list of options. The first should be something along the lines of "Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic Default" (I believe it will be 2.6.17 for Edgy).

Press 'e' to edit the boot configuration. You should see a list of options like the kernel, root device, initrd image. Use the cursor keys to select the kernel line.

Press 'e' to edit the boot options. You should be presented with the current boot options, something along the lines of "/boot/vmlinuz root=UUID=e9c019e5-d78a-4cc0-8c4a-129eadbe0e3b ro quiet splash" although the line is so long it will probably have been wrapped so you will only see the latter part of it. Simply add " irqpoll" (note the leading space) to this line, then hit enter.

You should be taken back to the boot configuration screen. Press 'b' to boot.

You can make the option permanent, if you so wish, by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst and adding it to the line "# kopt=root=UUID=e9c019e5-d78a-4cc0-8c4a-129eadbe0e3b ro" in the "Default kernel options" section, then running "sudo update-grub"