Comment 2 for bug 570090

Similar here, on a 64-bit system, fresh install (upgraded from 9.04 and then did fresh install to test if it solves the issue). No splash screen appears after GRUB selection. A long black screen, only during the late stages of which the hard drive can be heard doing anything.
Intel Core Two Duo
nVidia GeForce 8800 640MB ("current version" drivers installed, in contrast to versions 173 and 96 also available, but not used).

After a relatively long wait (was not the case with 9.04 and previous versions), there are 5 dots with scrambled colours on screen followed by "Ubuntu" appearing three times on screen with a few dots beneath them. This only lasts a second and then the logon screen appears.

Same phenomenon when shutting down ("Ubuntu" coloured weird and with wague lettering pops up for a second).