Comment 26 for bug 745947

I experience a similar problem on a Sony VAIO Z12, using Ubuntu Desktop 11.04 beta. After selecting the first option in the Live CD menu ("try ubuntu", or such), I quickly get a black screen. Minutes later, a beautiful GNOME desktop appears. I experience the same black screen during shutdown. I would have thought the system had hung if it wasn't for optical drive activity. ;)

The Z12 has two graphics cards, one nvidia and one intel, and I can control which one is activated via BIOS. I only noticed this issue when intel is being used. With nvidia, I could see stuff on the screen during boot. So maybe this is a conflict between vga= and intel cards.