Ubuntu 16.04 + Nvidia Driver = Blank screen

Where/When do you get the blank screen? Is it when the grub menu should appear upon boot, or when the Ubuntu Unity login screen should appear? If it's the latter, try the following:

1. Add nomodeset on your Ubuntu grub entry. Highlight the entry you use to boot, press e, then add replace

   ...ro quiet splash ...

   with

   ...ro nomodeset quiet splash ...

If that boots to the login screen correctly, press Ctrl + Alt + F2, login, then run sudo prime-select intel. Then reboot and see if that fixes it.

Also, how are you installing NVidia drivers? DOuble-check at nvidia.com if you're using the correct ones.

My graphics card is the NVidia GeForce GTX 950.

The first thing I did was download the latest stable NVidia driver from nvidia.com (for me, it was 361.42). I was sure to select the latest stable and certified driver. It's a ".run" file, by the way. Search on how to install .run files if you're not familiar with this.

I then blacklisted the Nouveau drivers according to this post (my steps are below and are slightly different from this post): Install Nvidia driver instead of nouveau

I did all of my work through the virtual terminal accessed by Ctrl+Alt+F1 from the log in screen:

1. Blacklist the modules. Open the blacklist.conf file.

    sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
   

   add the following modules to the end of the file:

    blacklist vga16fb
    blacklist nouveau
    blacklist rivafb
    blacklist nvidiafb
    blacklist rivatv
   

   Save the file and exit.

2. Remove all the nvidia* packages (note this didn't do anything for me, but it's recommended. No harm done in running it)

    sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia*
   

3. Update the initramfs disk. Mine was configured to load the nouveau drivers. It takes several seconds. Don't reboot or poweroff!

    sudo update-initramfs -u
   

4. Reboot

5. Stop the display manager and then install.

   At the login screen press Ctrl+Alt+F1 again to get into the virtual terminal. Once you are in the text mode, stop the display manager:

    sudo service lightdm stop
   

6. Then, run the installation file (the .run file you downloaded). The installation is well documented and contains lots of useful messages along the way (imagine that!). I did get the error about the pre-install script failing. I continued anyway. I got asked "Would you like to run the nvidia-xconfig utility to automatically update your X configuration file so that the NVIDIA X driver will be used when you restart X? Any pre-existing X configuration file will be backed up" I answered "Yes" and continued. I have a 64-bit system and got 32-bit errors. I didn't worry about it and continued. The 64-bit ones installed fine. I got to the end of the installation!

7. Cross your fingers, reboot, and log in. My system FINALLY came up. I hope yours does too!

Try to add nvidia ppa ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa and install the lastest 364.15.

That works for me with optimus 860m.

This works only if you have Secure Boot disabled.

Maybe you have to blacklist the nvidia drivers at startup. That is sometimes needed by hybrid graphic cards.

• Edit the file: /etc/modprobe.d/bumblebee.conf and add:

  blacklist nvidia-XXX
  blacklist nvidia-XXX-updates
  blacklist nvidia-experimental-XXX
  

  replace the XXX by the version of the graphic driver. For example 346

• reboot your computer.

I solved this issue a different way. I installed 16.04 on a very old computer. I installed the Nvidia legacy driver, and got the blank screen.

I installed Lubuntu to use the LXDE desktop. That is working very well for me.

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

Make sure you have secureboot disabled, I happened to have mine enabled and ignored the warning when I upgraded to 16.04. If you have secureboot on, it will get stuck on gdm or in a black screen.

Try adding the following options to your grub /etc/default/grub config file. You'll need to update grub afterward.

GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024x32,auto
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep