After having spent ages getting nothing but a black screen, I found a simple solution that seems to have fixed the problem.
* On Windows, make a bootable flash drive with rufus http://rufus.akeo.ie/ and the 64 bit version of the Cinnamon ISO from https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
* Power-up the MBP while holding the left alt key
* Boot from the flash drive
* Use the first option in the GRUB menu
* When you get to a black screen and hear the welcome sound, press fn+ctr+alt+F1 (console) then fn+ctrl+alt+F7 (X)
You now have a working live session to play with!
It took me far too long to get to this point, so I thought I'd write about it.
You can determine your exact macbook model using the following command:
sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name
Mine reports:
MacBookPro6,2
My specs:
Code: Select all
System: Host: mint Kernel: 4.8.0-53-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.4.3 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) dm: lightdm Distro: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya
Machine: System: Apple product: MacBookPro6 2 v: 1.0 Chassis: type: 10 v: Mac-F22586C8
Mobo: Apple model: Mac-F22586C8 v: MacBookPro6 2
Bios: Apple v: MBP61.88Z.0057.B0F.1112091028 date: 12/09/11
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i7 M 620 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10640
clock speeds: min/max: 1197/2661 MHz 1: 1995 MHz 2: 1596 MHz 3: 1330 MHz 4: 1729 MHz
Graphics: Card-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0046
Card-2: NVIDIA GT216M [GeForce GT 330M] bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0a29
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: intel
Resolution: 1440x900@59.90hz, 1440x900@59.90hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVA5 GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 12.0.6 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card-1 Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:3b56
Card-2 NVIDIA GT216 HDMI Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0be2
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.8.0-53-generic
Network: Card-1: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5764M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
driver: tg3 v: 3.137 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:1684
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Card-2: Broadcom BCM43224 802.11a/b/g/n
driver: bcma-pci-bridge bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:4353
IF: wlp3s0b1 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 48.1GB (11.7% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: SanDisk_SDSSDRC0 size: 32.0GB serial: 124185402068 temp: 0C
ID-2: USB /dev/sdc model: USB_DISK size: 16.0GB serial: AA00000000008566-0:0 temp: 0C
Partition: ID-1: swap-1 size: 4.15GB used: 0.01GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-2
RAID: System: supported: N/A
No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Unused Devices: none
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 68.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 67.0
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Repos: Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list
deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 18.2 _Sonya_ - Release amd64 20170628]/ xenial contrib main non-free
Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com sonya main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial main restricted universe multiverse
deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http: //archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ xenial partner
Info: Processes: 224 Uptime: 29 min Memory: 1226.7/3813.5MB
Init: systemd v: 229 runlevel: 5 default: 2 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
Client: Unknown python2.7 client inxi: 2.2.35