Black screen fix/solution for Mid 2010 Macbook Nvidia GPU

[90Ninety]

I have set up dual boot on my girlfriend's Macbook Mid 2010 , since I am not a fan of Mac OSX .

I managed to initially boot into Linux, I set up a GPT UFI USB and installed Linux to a partition and it worked, while having an option to boot into OSX.
While in Linux I had a prompt telling me to install Nvidia Driver (340.108 IIRC) ,so I did . Though now I am stuck with a black screen on boot , I understand this problem has something to do with crippled MAC's UFI/EFI implementation of video hardware

After some searching for a solution , I came across a a locked thread here viewtopic.php?t=271822with the exact problem, along with a solution .

I am wondering if someone could offer some guidance of how to use the solution , especially the first step ? For the first step, do I have to re-install Linux Mint , or can I revert to the alternative nouveau driver somehow ?

How do I install Mint using the Nvidia drivers .By default installation seems to invoke the nouveau driver

Bit confused

[SMG]

I have set up dual boot on my girlfriend's Macbook Mid 2010 , since I am not a fan of Mac OSX .

Welcome to the forum, 90Ninety.

What did you use for the bootloader for the dual-boot, Refind, GRUB, something else?

While in Linux I had a prompt telling me to install Nvidia Driver (340.108 IIRC) ,so I did .

This sounds like you have a Linux Mint install with the Nvidia drivers installed. That is the first step in the other topic.

Are you wanting to revert back to the nouveau driver? Or are you wanting to know how to get to a TTY or terminal so you can do step 2 in the other topic?

We would need to know how you are booting Linux Mint in order to be able to help with those two questions.

Looking at step 2, I would think you can do it with either the nouveau or Nvidia driver installed.

[Reddog1]

Those old macbooks with NVidia gpu's are a real pain. What surprises me is, nobody has told you the way to actually get to your graphical linux desktop by not loading the NVidia driver. Assuming that you are using grub (I've never used anything but grub on macs, including dual-boot), boot the laptop and when the grub screen comes up, highlight the first choice for Linux (probably the very first OS choice). Then hit the e key (for edit). A terminal-like editing screen will open. Arrow down to the line that begins with Linux and contains quiet boot. Arrow over to after the quiet boot entry and type nomodeset. There should be a single space between quiet boot and nomodeset. Hit F10 to continue the boot.

That should take you to the linux graphical desktop without the installed driver. From there open the Driver Manager and remove the NVidia driver. Reboot, and the nouveau driver should load automagically and the desktop should look the way it did before installing the 340 driver. From there, you have the option of attempting to get the NVidia driver to work with that card, if you wish. Just My Opinion, but I've only had problems with NVidia drivers on macs. The intel gpu just works.

[90Ninety]

What did you use for the bootloader for the dual-boot, Refind, GRUB, something else?

I used Refind, the Refind menu only appeared once (90's style selection screen) , I selected Linux that allowed me to boot with the Nouveau driver. After reboot , I have to press the control or command key at boot up , which simply shows an Apple flavoured screen with two Partitions and I select which one to boot from ( SSD and EFI IIRC)

sounds like you have a Linux Mint install with the Nvidia drivers installed. That is the first step in the other topic.

I believe by default the Linux installed with the Nouveau driver , since shortly after installation a prompt asked me to migrate to Nvidia drivers from Nouveau, however you may be right , the OS may now have the Nvidia Drivers installed but has an initialisation problem.

Are you wanting to revert back to the nouveau driver?

No , would rather use the Nvidia Chip , since it has a bit more grunt

Or are you wanting to know how to get to a TTY or terminal so you can do step 2 in the other topic?

Yes I guess this is is what I need to do next ?

We would need to know how you are booting Linux Mint in order to be able to help with those two questions.

Yes Linux Mint , latest version at the time of writing this thread

Looking at step 2, I would think you can do it with either the nouveau or Nvidia driver installed.

Ok I will attempt, and post back , thanks

[90Ninety]

Welcome to the forum,
Are you wanting to revert back to the nouveau driver? Or are you wanting to know how to get to a TTY or terminal so you can do step 2 in the other topic?

Thanks

Yeah I am not sure how to TTY or how to get to terminal . I assume this is done thorough a Linux recovery mode so , I just I tried pressing shift, 'e' and 'esc' at the selection screen , though I just get a hex code in a terminal screen .

FWIW at the beginning of boot screen when choosing Linux Mint (even when working with Nouveau Driver) I get the following screen

[SMG]

Yeah I am not sure how to TTY or how to get to terminal . I assume this is done thorough a Linux recovery mode so , I just I tried pressing shift, 'e' and 'esc' at the selection screen , though I just get a hex code in a terminal screen .

That is how one might get to the grub menu to make a selection when booting, but you are using Refind. I am not familiar with Refind and how it works. I just know many people with Apple hardware use it.

The directions you found in the other topic seem to presume one is booting with grub. It mentions making a customized grub script. I do not know what the equivalent might be for rEFInd.

FWIW at the beginning of boot screen when choosing Linux Mint (even when working with Nouveau Driver) I get the following screen

You indicate you get this at the beginning of booting. Do you ever get to a login screen? (If you set up Linux Mint to have a login.)

If you do get a login screen, do not login. At that point you will want to switch to console mode by pressing Ctl-Alt-F1.

On that screen you should get a prompt where you will type in your username. Then you will enter your password. And then you should be greeted with a $ command prompt. You are now in terminal mode.

If you do not normally see the login screen and after seeing the text you posted the entire screen just goes black, see if you can switch to TTY1 by pressing Ctl-Alt-F1.

Once you get to a terminal/TTY, you can remove the Nvidia driver and return to using the nouveau driver by running apt remove nvidia-driver-340 and then apt autoremove and then reboot the computer to complete the removal of the Nvidia driver.

At that point, I'm presuming you would be able to get to a graphical interface and then give us information about your system's hardware. Please open the System Reports app and click the System Information tab on the left. Your computer's information should come up in the right pane. Then click Copy and paste the results into a reply window here so we can see how Linux Mint views your hardware.

Or, if you can not get to a graphical interface, then run the following command in terminal mode inxi -Fxxxrz and take photographs of the results so you can post them here so we can see how Mint views your hardware. If the photos are too large for attachments, you can use an image-sharing site such as ibb or imgur and share the url.

[90Ninety]

That is how one might get to the grub menu to make a selection when booting, but you are using Refind. I am not familiar with Refind and how it works. I just know many people with Apple hardware use it.

The directions you found in the other topic seem to presume one is booting with grub. It mentions making a customized grub script. I do not know what the equivalent might be for rEFInd.

Maybe I should try re-installing Linux Mint , and using a different Boot Loader , other than rEFind ? I am not farmilliar with MAC and REFInd seemed popular one to use

Is there a guide for setting up an EFI GRUB Dual boot Loader on MAC ?

[SMG]

Is there a guide for setting up an EFI GRUB Dual boot Loader on MAC ?

I do not know.

I know rEFInd is popular with Apple hardware.

Maybe someone else will be able to help.

[Reddog1]

I've installed on a lot of macs (that's why I avoid the NVidia driver) Mac NVidia is not the same as NVidia on Lenovo, Dell, etc., it is an Apple spec'd NVidia gpu. Sometimes the NVidia driver works and sometimes it won't, depending on the firmware installed on the mac, and the Apple NVidia driver is modified. Nouveau just works, or has for me, so far. Mac firmware being different on identical machines is why linux tutorials for installing on a mac may or may not apply to the specific mac that you have. I have never used REFind, though I can see times (multi-boot more than 1 Linux system + OSX) that it would be advantageous. Almost always, grub works normally, picking up the OSX system boot when installed into the shared efi. A couple of times, grub did not find OSX. I never pursued it, because if I wanted to boot OSX, I could just hold down the Option key at boot and I would get a screen to choose either the OSX drive or the Mint efi drive. Pretty much the same difference as using grub.

Apple has excellent hardware. The Apple proprietary system, and that Apple installs different firmware on system upgrade, makes installing linux a challenge, and an adventure, almost every time. What is required to successfully install on any given Apple depends on the last version of OSX installed. It's maddening. And all but 2 of my computers are re-purposed macs.

[90Ninety]

Almost always, grub works normally, picking up the OSX system boot when installed into the shared efi. A couple of times, grub did not find OSX. I never pursued it, because if I wanted to boot OSX, I could just hold down the Option key at boot and I would get a screen to choose either the OSX drive or the Mint efi drive. Pretty much the same difference as using grub.

Apple has excellent hardware. The Apple proprietary system, and that Apple installs different firmware on system upgrade, makes installing linux a challenge, and an adventure, almost every time. What is required to successfully install on any given Apple depends on the last version of OSX installed. It's maddening. And all but 2 of my computers are re-purposed macs.

If I were to simply re-partition the drive , then re-install Linux mint onto the EXT partition , in theory the grub menu bootloader should be able to read the multiple partition and give boot options ?

I know that is the case when installing Linux with Windows (partitioned) . If I can get this far , perhaps then we can at least work on fixes within the grub menu

[Reddog1]

If I were to simply re-partition the drive , then re-install Linux mint onto the EXT partition , in theory the grub menu bootloader should be able to read the multiple partition and give boot options ?

In almost all cases--yes, it will. (I won't say always because Murphy is always lurking in the background)

If you think reinstalling is just going to be easier, sometimes that is the quickest option, and you've been messing with this for a while. If you weren't using REFind, I think I might be able to get you out of this, but I'm totally ignorant about how it works and how to fix something gone wrong. That doesn't mean that REFind isn't an excellent replacement for grub, and I see no problem if you want to continue to use it.

The couple of times that grub did not pick up OSX and add it to the menu, If I powered-up with the 'Option' key held down, a screen would show with two hard disks, one OSX and the other labeled 'efi'. If I chose OSX I booted the Apple desktop, and if I chose 'efi' I booted the installed linux grub and then the linux desktop. I never pursued getting grub to add OSX to it's boot menu because I rarely use the Apple system, and just powering on without the option key brought up the grub menu, so I was happy. I have several apples here, and only one is dual-boot. Another runs Mint in a vm. The others have been converted to a better operating system because Apple doesn't support them anymore. I think that 2010 laptop is probably running High Sierra, and it isn't supported by Apple now, and cannot be upgraded to Catalina (which goes out of support at the end of this year). Running an Apple without security updates is not a good thing.

This is what Disks shows with the dual-boot system.