GRUB 2 error – "fb: switching to radeondrmfb from EFI VGA"

There seems to be a problem with the radeon driver when booting. You can test a fix by doing this:

  1. When you see the grub menu, press 'e', which will allow you to edit the entry.
  2. Go to the line with "linux...." and look for where it says 'ro'.
  3. After the 'ro', add 'nomodeset' (without quotes), and then boot (press F10).

If that works, you can make it permanent by editing your /etc/default/grub file, and changing the line to look like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nomodeset"

Then run:

sudo update-grub

This isn't the best solution, since it seems to put your machine into software rendering. I'm hunting for a proper fix.


Once in GRUB press the e key. We’re now going to disable the AMD graphics card while we boot into the Ubuntu Live CD. Look for the line set gfxpayload=keep. Once you’ve found it, type the following lines underneath to disable the AMD graphics card:

outb 0x728 1
outb 0x710 2
outb 0x740 2
outb 0x750 0

Next find the kernel line and after “quiet splash” , add the following

i915.lvds_channel_mode=2 i915.modeset=1 i915.lvds_use_ssc=0

Source: https://orville.thebennettproject.com/articles/installing-ubuntu-14-04-lts-on-a-2011-macbook-pro/


If you have a graphics card in pull it out and use the integrated graphics controller. If you dont have an integrated one try another card.