Comment 48 for bug 243682

Fixed for my box. Here is the procedure:

1. On boot, enter the grub menu and add this to the kernel line, vga=ask, e.g:
  kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27-9-generic root=UUID=61deb805-3f3b-47b3-9349-8c43ae3c3aa9 vga=ask ro quiet splash
2. You will be presented with list of available modes. Select one that is appropriate for your screen. A mode for your native resolution many not be available, e.g. I do not have a mode for 1920x1200 shown. I selected VESA mode 791
3. Continue boot; usplash was shifted, but otherwise looked ok. After boot, make sure your virtual terminals look ok (i.e. ctrl-alt-f1 and make sure the text looks good!). If not, return to step 1.
4. Run usplash -x1024 -y768. This step is probably not necessary.
5. Edit /etc/usplash.conf and set the resolution to 1024x768 (in this example) or whatever your resolution is.
6. Edit /boot/grub/menu.list, update the kernel line for your boot image to include the vga line.
  kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27-9-generic root=UUID=61deb805-3f3b-47b3-9349-8c43ae3c3aa9 vga=791 ro quiet splash
7. Run update-initramfs -u
8. Reboot

It appears that on some installs, usplash is configured for an unsupported vga mode. Potential steps to correct on installation:

1. Scan for available vga modes and select one that is available and appropriate [unsure of the heuristics here :( ]
2. Set resolution to mode in /etc/usplash.conf
3. Run update-initramfs -u to update initial ramdisk image