Comment 17 for bug 67487

I am also experiencing this problem with the ATi Mobility Radeon X700XL. I have tried booting into the live CD using both the standard and safe install options, but after the bootsplash appears and the bar reaches the end I am presented with a black screen. I am able to hear Ubuntu's loading sound, but I can't see anything, so it must be a driver issue.
I cannot change to another runlevel either, as the black screen doesn't budge.

The only 'workaround' I found was to download the alternate CD, install Ubuntu 6.10 using the CLI installer, and then boot into a *different* live CD (Ubuntu locked up with this black screen whether I booted into its live CD or into the installed version), mount Ubuntu's root partition, chroot into the Ubuntu root directory, and install the proprietary ATi driver (first download the links web browser, browse to the ATi website, download the Linux driver, build a package for Ubuntu/edgy with it, install the package, restart). Then, when I restarted and booted into the installed version of Ubuntu, the GUI worked without any problems.
The ONLY issue I have found with this is that my system still locks up when I am shutting down, restarting, or changing runlevel, and I have to turn the laptop off manually (using the power button). Whenever I do one of those three things, I get a flurry of pinks, oranges and yellows on the screen, and I can't do anything but hit the power button.